Another Museum Adventure of a Combat Booted Genius
by pinkxjellybean
Summary: Frankie and the gang have a new mission, and it means returning to old friends and old enemies, and not all of them Frankie's. Does Ahk's lineage hold the key to the case?
1. Chapter 1

**AN Hi everyone, ready for the next part? Prolly not, I admit I'm not entirely. **

**(POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT) Quick responce to a review that I can't pm to. One Scene: Thank you for the review, and I'll keep that in mind. However, the switch on the tenses is an important part of the story. In part because it's a vernacular difference between people, which sometimes transfers between characters, based on how much time they spend together. Which is why Ahk's changes sometimes when he's with Frankie or thinking about her. Also, the idea of changing tenses came from Leo Tolstoy in his short story The Death of Ivan Ilych, and is a devise used to put the reader in the place of the character at moments of importance.**

** It also is something that is better explained later, but the long and short of it is that the way I wanted this to read is as if the people are actually talking about it what they know, as if they are telling the story to you. Frankie uses improper grammar, but, as I hope to later cover, Frankie's brain works differently than any other, and this affects her understanding of time, and how it passes. The fact that she travels trough time doesn't help. **

**This is important to the story.**

RILEY'S POV

We of course had to practice our magic that we were supposed to be learning. The lobby of the Museum often made a suitable space for practice.

Rikki or TM would put a net spell around us, to keep any magical backfire from spreading and charring the walls, or whatever.

The effects of our training wasn't always good, but one night it was especially counterproductive. We were playing with fire, not actual fire, but fire spells, and we each of us had on vests that prevented us from scorching each other... magically. Frankie was being far too acrobatic for my tastes at that moment, which was also annoyed Rikki because we were supposed to be practicing the spell while in motion, which is sort of the reason that I was getting shouted at, too, because for the most part I was standing still, and basically just turning bit by bit to get better aim at Frankie.

It wasn't nearly as stressful as you would think, shooting flames from your hands to the chest of your best friend, but that doesn't mean it isn't stressful, because it is. But it only is to the point where I messed up the incantation once. Just once.

But it was the once that led to everything going wrong.

Frankie was mid-flip when the bolt hit her. It knocked her clear through the net, and into the far wall. Literally. In. To. The. Wall.

There was a glowing light coming out of the hole where she had punched through. Frankie pulled her self out of the hole. But it wasn't her. The girl was transparent. Then there were more of them. One by one they exited the hole in the wall. each one left the hole looking like a veil, and slowly fleshed out. Each looked like Frankie, but like a different version of her. I ran over to the real one, and pulled her out of the hole in the wall, and to her feet. Once I let go of her, she collapsed to the floor, face first, and no attempt what so ever to keep herself from hitting the floor with a really sick sound.

"What are those?" Ahk asked, eyeing the shades of Frankie warily.

Rikki looked at the forms, now very solid.

"They're the different parts of her soul. They're basically all the different personalities that she has ever had, or felt the need to act the part of. That's why they're all different. Its' strange that there's so many of them..."

"What about the ones with the chains?" I asked.

"I assume they're the parts of her mind that she had intentionally block off," Rikki said.

One had bruises on most of her exposed skin, and wore the baggy boys clothes she used to wear. A chain hung in the side of her pants. Her hair was cropped shorter than I'd ever seen Frankie's cut. Her American accent was hard and angry. She seemed too edgy to be Frankie. She said that she was strength, but she was more than that. It was like Survival, more likely.

The next has fazzled, ratted hair, and wore a straight jacket. She looked around, wild eyed. The eyes were wider than Frankie's really were, and the liner around her eyes was smeared far out. She kept rolling her head around, and muttering strangely in nonsense, as well as insane physics formulas, and then nonsense relating in to physics formulas. It was what we assumed was Evil Genius.

There was a small round faced child with white gold hair. She was adorable, yet, she seemed to know Ahk, though he wasn't sure how to react to her. He said he felt like he used to remember her, but can't. She saw Al and went running to him, wordlessly. He spoke to her in Italian and she responded in like. After a minute or two, he put her down, and she ran back to Ahk's side, and caught a hold of Ahk's kilt, stuck a thumb in her mouth, and didn't let go. We suppose her to be Youth, Innocence, Weakness, or something like that.

There was one that was simply Joyousness, and Depression, and then there was Lust. It was bound up in bronze chains, with a lock settled on her chest. She was gagged. There was a key around her neck on a red ribbon.

Ahk moved over to the woman, and he began to take the key from around her neck. The toddler tugged his skirt, and shook her head.

"Ahk," Rikki warned, "That is bound by Frankie's own will. It's that way for a reason."

"Leaving it lets her suffer," he says.

"Releasing that part of her may bear consequences that you have not once considered. Would you bear them?"

"I would," he said, something in his eyes said that he didn't think of any of it as consequences, but as gifts.

He turned the key in the lock, and it pops open and the chains fall away, and fade into smoke.

The stuff she was wearing underneath was like something outta the Moulin Rouge, all red and black silk, and revealing. We were, for the most part, dumbfounded at the sight of her... She also carted a riding crop... which made Rikki very nervous.

"Hello there, Lust... if you could just give me this," she snatched the crop from the black gloved hand of Lust, who scoffed, slinking over to Ahk, "I will not need it for this one," she purred.

Ahk stepped back from her.

"I must thank you," she purred again.

"It's really no problem..." Ahk looked visibly nervous.

"Perhaps you will allow me to think you properly?"

The child at Ahk's leg tugged again at the material. She shook her head as if he had verbally asked her to question his morals.

She gave a small whine as Ahk repetitively forced her off of him.

The long and the short of it is that they got out somehow. Now, I'm not pointing any fingers, but MadGenius looked far too pleased with the escape.

"Gone they went, into the wind," she cackled, "Like the dust, so scattered, you can never catch the dust in the wind, not with your hand, not with a jar, or any spell."

"But they aren't dust," Rikki said, "Do you know where they went?"

"They are dust, as the city is the room. We all are. millions of particles, which one do you need?"

"Alright, you're of no help," Rikki said, Larry go print out a map of the city for me, please."

Once we had the map, Rikki tracked the shades through magic, and we were all split into groups to go seek them out. In random order the groups were sent out into the city, with the shade locations given. I stayed back as a mission control, watching the map to report any change in position.

I watched as one by one, they were captured and returned. As each came back, they were put in the magic net, which I had by then fortified to withhold any magic interference.

The last to return was Lust. Al, Ricca, and Nitti hauled her back in to the museum, and each looked ready to collapse.

"What happened to you?" Rikki asked.

"She happened," Ricca gasped.

"Um... should I be worried?" Ahk asked.

"No," Al said, reassuringly, "No one damaged you darling little dear, but that was the real challenge of it."

Lust was slinking on Ahk again, and she started whispering something to him, making him blush. Youth at his side let go of his skirt, and pulled the thumb from her mouth, and pushed her into the net. Dusted off her hands, then smiling at Ahk, walked into the net herself. The last one to do so.

The net shimmered and turned to a shimmering dusty smoke, and the body of Frankie breathed it in. She was back in her body, but she slept on.

"She will sleep for another eight hours," TM said, to reassure anyone who thought she was in a coma, "Tomorrow night will certainly be interesting. Considering that part of her soul has now been altered..."


	2. How Did I Not Name the First Chapter!

**AN Ok, smut alert. Uber smut alert! The entire deviant quarter of my brain has been kept at bay, and some of it was allowed on in to the story. But don't worry. When the smut starts, I've put it in bold. If you don't want to read it, then there's a little of other stuff you can read in here. But it's just bout all fluff, but you really must have seen this coming...**

**But yeah, so remember, the other bolded stuff is rated M.**

AHKMENRAH'S POV  
Frankie was there when I woke up, all in one piece. I leaned down to give her a kiss, and I had only meant for it to be a peck, but I found myself going back for another, and not releasing her until I could no longer stand the lack of breath.

"Well... Hello, there," Frankie said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I-"

She pressed a finger to my lips, "Ahk... I feel... rather... peculiar..."

"Peculiar how?" I asked, concerned, had I set something out of order?

"I feel as if my body is burning out through my circulatory system, and I just want to-"

"Frankie," I took her hands from my body, and placed them by her side, "This thing is nothing. It will pass."

"It's lust... I know it is," she said in a voice not unlike the one Lust used when speaking to me, "Do we make love now?"

"No," I said carefully.

"Why not?" she asked, "You said we would when I felt... this thing..." her hands rested gently on my arms, and she rested her face against my chest.

"I don't know if we should. This is very sudden, you see... and I don't want to rush-"

She kissed me, "Please, Ahk..." she whispered, and I was lost. My hands grasped her whole body to me, and kiss her, pressing her back against the wall. She let out a gasp. Her small body had never seemed quite so small, never so defenseless as it did suddenly with the gasp.

And even as my mind thought this, my body paid it no heed. Her body surrendered to my touch, as if it had ever once put up a resistance. My collar and robe were off, and I almost had to wonder where they had gone, as I didn't remember removing them. I looked at her, then around, when had her shirt come off? When had she kicked off her boots, and how..?

Her bra wasn't usual. It was black lace over dark blue silk. She had, to my knowledge, never worn such a garment for no reason. She had wore it for me. She had expected this, planned for it.

"Ahk?" she asked in a husky voice, "You ok?"

"I can't." I released her from the wall. I would have had her there, on the wall like a common woman off the streets.

"Why?" she asked, hysterical.

"I just... I can't... It's better this way, really."

"How?"

"It just is... We don't have to ever... do this..."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's not you... it's me, really... I just can't."

"I beg to differ. You are well capable of this. Please. You can't lure me to this point and then retreat."

"If we do this, there is no way to go back."

"I know that... I don't care. I love you, and I want to be with you."

"But you don't."

"You think I'm lying?"

"No. You don't know what it would be like."

"I don' care," there were practically tears rolling down her face, "I don'. I never've, why should now be any different?"

I took her hands in mine, "Tomorrow, you'll realize that this is better. That this would've been a mistake," I tried to smile, I kissed her forehead, and picked up my robe, and began to slip it on my shoulders.

There was a soft sound as Frankie slid to the floor, to sit, "This is what it feels like fer you?" she asked in her tear streaked voice, "It hurts this bad, and you just go about your day?"

I kneel next to her, "It gets easier. After a while, you might not even notice it..."

"I've spent the whole of my life in that void, and it never mattered to me that you wanted to commune. I offered it, before I knew how much this ache hurts. And now, when I feel the ache of this emptiness, you leave me to fend for myself?"

"It would not satisfy."

"You assume, sir."

"I know."

"What do you suggest I do 'bout this pain?" she asked. The harshness in her voice wasn't imagined. She was angry with me.

"I don't know."

"So, you awaken this, and then wash your hands of it? You unleash this piece of my soul, and you let her wrack me with this cruel pain? What love is this?"

I put my arms about her, to embrace her, to attempt to comfort her.

She slapped me, not a playful one. It hurt. She got to her feet, snatching up her things and stormed away.

I watched, my face, and whole person hurting. I did this. Were these the consequences that Rikki spoke of? I hurt her. It's always thus. Either disappointment or pain. I hate myself for this.

I get to my feet, and go in search of Frankie. I must make this right. She doesn't believe me, but I still wish her to understand. I want to try to help her.

In the lobby, I ask Larry if he has seen Frankie, and he responds, "Yeah, man, she left a while ago. What happened? She was carrying her shirt and her shoes..."

"Nothing... Nothing happened. Thanks..." I went back to my room, and sat on the floor in silence, and thought about what I had just given up, again.

I thought about how she had felt, and how she had clung to me. She made me into a subhuman.

I was a twelve year old boy again.

No self control at all.

She made me thus.

The ext night, Frankie isn't in my room. She's no where near me. I go looking for her. I need to speak with her.

I found her finally, watching turn of the century cars zoom around in an old photograph that hung on the wall. She saw me, and said nothing.

"Frankie..." I said in a low, nervous voice.

"Ahk."

I walked over to her, and went to kiss her, and she turned her face away, "So, that's how it is?"

"Yep."

"Because I won't lay with you?"

"Because you left me aroused, and you didn't consider something."

"What? What did I not think of? Enlighten me, please," her tartness was making me cross.

"That I was just as nervous as you, if not more so. I'd never felt that before, and while you may know how to handle such things without another person, I don't. The ability to feel that class of sensation has been bound deep with in me, and you let it all out at once. You have the opportunity to slowly come to terms with the feelings. I had never been given that luxury. I was scared, but I figure... it won't matter coz I'll be wiv him, and he knows what to do. I were wrong."

"It wasn't like that."

"You didn't once stop to think maybe I thought I won't please you. Every time I've been with anyone, I haven't honestly cared whether or not they were satisfied. I just waited for it to be over. I don't know anythin' either."

I took her and, "I'm sorry."

That was when I noticed that she hadn't once looked at me while she was speaking. I looked at her face. A tear rolled down from her eye. I had made her cry again. I wiped the tear away and kissed the top of her head.

"You're right, I didn't think about those things. Please don't cry... I'll do anything you want, just please, don't..."

"Don't ever say those words to me," she said, in that cold voice, "Please."

I thought on the words. Had she uttered them the last time she felt something? On the night she would never tell me of?

I took her hands in mine, "Come with me."

"Where?"

"This way," I tugged her along, smiling.

"Why?"  
"It's a surprise," I teased her.

She smiled, "What kind of surprise?"

"The surprising kind, of course."

At the loading dock door, I covered her eyes, ignoring her protests.

FRANKIE"S POV

He guides me in through the loading dock. The lack of my sight is almost annoying, but it is also sweet. I've forgotten my anger by now. What was he up to?

"Almost there," he whispers sweetly in my ear, excited. He sounds like a child about to have rather proud parents.

When he takes his hands from my eyes, I'm looking at a makeshift kip made up of blankets, and pillows and cushion swiped from the security office, and a few exhibits from the looks of it.

"Ahk..."

"I know, it isn't much. But it was the best I could do in ten minutes-"

"Ahk-"

"I mean, that's no excuse-"

I press a finger to his lips, "It's sweet."

He smiles, blushing, "I shouldn't assume that you would still have any interest in..."

I smile, and kiss his hand, "I don't want to pressure you..."

"It's nothing of the sort," he looks embarrassed, unsure how to begin.

I take off his crown and gently set it down on a nearby work table. His bracelets join the crown, as does his collar. As i take off each article of jewelry, I kiss over the space that they had occupied. As I kiss his clavicle, he begins taking these deep breaths, and I smile. I stopped at his belt, trying to figure the thing out, and for the most part failing, "I ain't sure how to..." I whisper.

He takes my face in his hands, takes the chopstick from my hair, so that the dark curls fall down around my face, and he kisses me. Ever nerve in my body fells like I'd stuck a fork in an outlet. He holds me so tight to him that I can feel his heart beating, pounding wildly.

He tugs my shirt up over my head, and I felt regret that I haven't worn anything special underneath my clothes for him. Just plain. He doesn't seem to notice it though. He kisses my neck, while I set about the struggle of unclothing myself the rest of the way without upsetting what he was doing.

I have to turn my back to him at one point to avoid hitting him with my boots. My back is pressed against his chest, and he wrapped on arm around my waist, and the other rested on my back, slipping up, slowly, and it unhooked my bra.

I freeze, and he stops moving, "Is that not allowed?" he asks.

I smile, "It is."

He seems to hesitate, but he kisses at the back of my neck, and I can barely stand the sensation. Once my boots are off, he turns me around to look at me, I sorta instinctively cover myself, especially seeing how toned he is. His body is more amazing than anything ever. He honestly has nothing to ever feel ashamed of...

He looks in my eyes, "Do you not wish me to see you?" he asks, confused.

"I'm not really comfortable wiv m'body."

"Why?" he asked, in earnest curiosity, he gently moves my arms away from my figure, and looks at me, "I see no reason."

"I'm pudgy..."

His hands wander over my sides lovingly, "I enjoy your shape. There are curves in the right places... You are beautiful..."

I kiss him for his foolish compliment, and pull him by his hand over to the bed he built us.

**Then follows the explanation of safe sex, and what a condom was, and why he has to wear it, where it goes, and that of course I wouldn't be embarrassed to bear his child, I just can't at the present.**

**He lay by my side, and looked at me. Every passing second makes me feel more and more nervous. He strokes my body, as he did once in dreams. He kisses my face, and my neck, and my shoulders. i enjoy the sensations, but at the same time, I feel more and more nervous. Whenever I try to reciprocate, he leans more on top of me, as if to stop me. I lay there and wonder what this will be, if anything.**

**Will he really do it, or will he pull away at the last moment, and leave me just hurt.**

**When at last he is between my legs, he looks at me, "Are you sure this is what you want?"**

**"Yes," I smile.**

**"Are you nervous?" he asks, concerned.**

**"No," I lie, smiling wider. **

**He kisses me, and thrusts. It hurts. I gasp, and he immediately ceases all motion, "I'm sorry!"**

**"It's not you. I just ain't done this in a while," I say, holding him down to me.**

**"Neither have I," he quipped, relaxing.**

**I giggle, and kiss him. He resumes moving inside of me. I feel all of him. He looks at me, smiling, and making sure I'm ok, but I'm so far past ok. I feel amazing. I've never felt this. Never in my life. I never knew anything could feel like this.**

**I guess with the right guy...**

**The feelings intensify, and over me, Ahk makes these grunting noises, that sorta bother me, so I pull his face down to me, and I kiss him for as long as I could, and soon, I can't remember why I was doing it, save for the fact that I love him. I remember telling him over and over that I loved him. **

**He kisses at my neck again, but rougher this time. There's teeth. I dug my nails into his back and arched into him. His arms around me tighten until I'm not sure how he's moving at all and still so unendingly close. **

**He mutters words, broken phrases in his language that I can't understand, and realize, that they aren't for me to understand. **

**He bites hard on the flesh on the crook of my neck. Like he's trying to keep himself quiet. I'm sure there will be a mark, but the thought of it doesn't linger in my mind for long. **

I feel exhausted suddenly, and Ahk collapses into my arms, and on my chest. His head rests on my bussom and I run my fingers through his hair, and I kiss the top of his head.

He looks up at me, "Are you... did I... did you..."

"It was amazing," I whisper, "Can we do it again?"

"I'll need a few minutes..." he says, nervously.

"I mean, tomorrow night, or something?"

"Every night if you want," he rests his head again, then sees the mark he left in my neck, and gasped, "I hurt you!" his fingers gingerly ran over the slightly bleeding teeth marks.

"Are you a vampire?" I ask, suspiciously.

He smiles sadly, "Why didn't you tell me I did this?"

"I didn't notice," I admit, "I had other things going on at that moment."

"Did you?"

"Yes, and they were very distracting!" I say.

Ahk chuckles, and rolls off of me. He lays on his back, "Well, if it's an exchange, I think you took a few chunks out of my back."

I rest my head on his chest, and trace swirling designs on his chest, absently, "Can you b'lieve you didn' wanna do that?"

"Not entirely. You really enjoyed it?"

"Would I lie to you?"  
"Yes. Very much."

I lean down and kiss him, "I enjoyed it very much, sir."

His hands take a hold of my head, and he holds my face against his. I am over all, very pleased with my life.


	3. The Pharaoh's New Coat

**AN: A shorter chapter, but a mildly important one. There's something I need to try though. Feel free to ignore the next line.**

你好歷史記錄的子項

TM'S POV

Chandra LaSalle was a relatively attractive woman in her early thirties, with mahogany skin and long hair that she wore in dreadlocks, tied back with a black cord.

Chandra LaSalle is an oracle.

She came to tell us about our next job.

An oracle has never, to my knowledge, personally told a troupe about their assignment. Most assignments were relayed by email, or text. If it was a big deal, it would be relayed by phone call. What was so important that we got actual face time?

Chandra claimed that she wasn't sure, that she just felt that something huge was happening.

"All that I know for sure, is that the Gateway of Kahmunrah has been opened. And something has come through. What ever it is, it has given life to the museum's exhibits. Again."

"Jesus," Rikki hid her face in the palm of her hand.

"Tomorrow night, your transport will come. You are to take with you the Night Guard, the tablet of Ahkmenrah, the Pharaoh himself, and any warriors you have in this place. Believe me when I say, you will need every one of them. You will have three nights. There will be no guards, and the museum will be closed. Due to a National Holiday."

"What holiday?" I asked.

"A forgettable one. One of those holidays that no one remembers until the day before."

And then she was gone.

Once we managed to get Frankie and Ahk to come into public domain (which is quite a feat since the soul splitting debackle), we explained the situation, and set about recruiting help.

Larry made an announcement and we took applications for our team, which attracted all manner of exhibits, both warrior and otherwise. Some were so far from warrior... we weren't sure how to respond to their application.

We ended up with the Civil War mannequins, the Gangsters, The Huns, The Neanderthals, Some Knights, Joan of Arc, and Sacajawea.

Teddy Roosevelt would be in charge until we returned.

"Request Permission to take Ahk out to buy him some garb?" Frankie asked.

"Go on," Rikki said, seemingly reluctantly.

Frankie grinned and pulled Ahk along to get his street clothes, and to take him out. She comes back later with Ahk in tow. The girl was wearing a simple hoodie, while Ahk had on a wool coat. She didn't seem to notice how cold it was outside, she just grinned at him. He kept an arm around her, like he was worried about her, but knew speaking his peace over it would do no good.

FRANKIE'S POV  
The next night, I run up to get Ahk, and summon down all the troops. He kept the tablet in a shoulder bag I'd picked up for him the night before. The Red Vega plane landed out on the street in front of the museum. She hadn't got caught, so I assumed that the charm we'd cast over the plane and that we would be safe. It was strange to see Amelia again. Partially because Larry had at the time been off and on seeing a girl who looked like Amelia. The girl's name was Tess, and I'd met her a few times, but things were rocky between her and larry because he was hesitant to introduce her to the museum. She knew he had a secret and was often cross with him for being so secretive.

I prefered to stay out of his personal life, a favor that he had often tried to pay Ahk and me, even if it backfired, or he accidentally walked in on a moment.

She explained the situation as well as she could. She said the following, "Everything's alive, that's for sure. At first I thought you'd come back, but I knew quickly that wasn't it. The whole joint feels more... sinister, evil."

"How so?" Rikki asked.

"It just does," Amelia stated, "I can't really explain it. It seems to me that everyone's rather balled up. Wed better head out now. It takes an hour to get there, you know."

We got ready to head out.

"Hey Amelia," I hugged her, "This's Ahkmenrah!"

Ahk bowed his head.

"Pleasure to meet you. Pharaoh," she grinned, opening the hatch of her plane.

"Told you she ws hot," I whispered.

"She is attractive," he admitted, " I see why Larry is so intriqued with her."

I handed out strips of gum as people got on the plane to help with the ear popping. I sat on the floor beside Ahk, and held his hand as we took off. He stiffened as we took off. I leaned my head on his shoulder as the engines made their deafening sounds.

He didn't fully relax until the plane wheels touched down.

On the mall, there was a crowd of exhibits waiting on the mall. I didn't recognize them all, and didn't really have time to identify them all.

As we began to plan out the strategy when thick arms wrapped around me hauling me off the ground, pinning my arms to the ground.

"What the-?"


	4. Ninja Hug Has Been Established

**AN: OK, an average sized chapter, things'll start picking up soon. I promise. Thanks, and enjoy.**

"I'm so happy to see you!" said, a happy, familiar voice,

"Ok, Gallucio," I gasped out, "You c'n please put me down now..."

Cold air rushed back into my lungs as my feet reaccquaintace themselves with the ground. His body had been warmer than mine was, and in my hoodie, I was freezing my ass off.

There was there the whole of the Monochromatic Gang.

"I di'n't know you was so fond o' me..." I said, admittedly nervously.

"Yeah... well, last time I thought you was Boss's moll, so... there's the whole idea of Don't Look, Don't Touch, Don't Talk To..." Gallucio said in his frankly honest way.

"How many times I told you, Gallucio, She wasn't never my girl, and you coulda talked to her anytime you wanted," said a voice that was still in my life, but that in all honesty the majority of my person had hoped to avoid. I had hoped for some strange reason that was not present, though I knew truly that wherever Gallucio was, Capone's younger self would be.

"Hey, Al," I smiled at him.

"So, what, Gallucio gets a hug and I don't?" he inquired.

"I mean, technically he ninja hugged me. I wasn' hardly involved," I protest.

"I don't wanna hear it, get over here," he was smiling, he pulled me into a hug. It was a nice hug. No the kinda hug where the guy's clearly trying to fell your boobs, or other body parts.

"Ok, that's enough. Offa me!" I groaned.

"You lose weight?"

"Why? Was I fat before?"

"No," Al rolled his eyes about, "You... look good... But if I wasn't lookin' for you, I wouldn't've known you... you look different."

"Yeah, well, I ain't a rock, y'know."

"You sound different, too..." Al said, suspiciously.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, not sure what else I could possibly say.

"I told you I'd see you again, didn't I?" he smiled his half smirk smile, as if we hadn't been speaking of anything else, but random things.

"Yeah, I guess so," I said, looking at Rikki who I had only just noticed watching me with narrowed eyes, like she doesn't trust me. Like I shouldn't be left alone with anyone with a crim rec, you know, a criminal record. She gave me that look last time, too, when I came back from putting Al away.

Ahk was watching, too, head tilted to the side. Not judgemental. Just watching. Smiling a little. Not really watching what I was doing. Just looking at me. If he'd been jealous of my hug with Al, he hid it well. He was looking at me the way he always did. Adoringly.

I went over to Ahk's side, and wrapped my arm around his, and bumped his hip with mine, then rested my head against his shoulder.

"Who is that man?"

"Capone."

"His brother?"

"No, him." I whisper, glancing at older Al who's staring wide eyed and envious at his younger self.

"Oh, I see it, now..." Ahk says.

"You don' do you?" I asked, joking.

"Not really..."

"It's the nose and eyes. The same basic facial features, but not fat," I whisper, hoping no one will hear.

"Frankie," barked, Rikki, "Do you have something to add?"

"Not particularly," I shrugg, "Why?"

"Because you seem to be speaking while we are discussing the mission."

"Seems so."

"Would you be so kind as to tell us what is so important, that you don't need to listen to the details that may save the word from destruction?"

"Yeah, sure, I was just explainin' to Ahk here how come we got two o' the came fellow, 'n how comes they not the same."

"Excuse me?" Rikki asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, and Al," I look at the older one, "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're sorta heftier than your younger self. That's all i was sayin'..."

Rikki glared at me, " And what does that have to do with the mission?"

"Not a whole lot, I think, except for the fact that I wouldn' put them in the same group as it would be a mite bit chaotic."

"Continue. General," She said to Robert E. Lee who was explaining the situation, which was basically the same thing the oracle had told them, so far as I understood, and I said so, not that anyone was listening to ME any more...

Yeah... that's my life. they ask what I'm talking about, and when I tell them, they don't listen to me anymore.

It's good sometimes, and bad sometimes.

Somethings I say oughta be listened to.

It was decided that we ought to split up into three groups, and go through the museums, locking up, and looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Other than livin' breathin' museum exhibits?" I asked.

Rikki glared and nonverbally told me to shut my yapper trapper, "Does anyone have a map of the museums?" TM asked.

"Oh, one sec!" I said, pulling out my stub of charcoal, I scribbled down a charter mark quickly, and muttered a few words in latin, "meae mentis imaginandi." a blue glimmer started on my palm, and it spread out to a large rectangular map of the mall, and the museums surrounding, with pretty little labels over them in my handwriting.

"What are those lines?" TM asked.

"Those are the different tunnels, crypts, and archives that connect the buildings. I assume whatever is happening is spreading through those lines. Under this idea, the Portrait Gallery, American History Museum, Reawick Museum and Postal Museum are all safe, coz they're all so isolated, but we oughta still check on 'em."

Rikki looked thoughtful, "You've never been in the crypts or tunnels... only the archives, correct?"

"Um, in theory you could- yeah, I been in 'em," I said, smiling.

"Hmmm, ok... so, the African Art Museum, American Industry, and the Sackler are connected, the Ripley, and the Freer, but not by tunnels?"

"Yeah, they just leak into each other. Confuses the hell outta tourists. Comin' out on the wrong side of a building, and a different one entirely. But the Industry Museum was closed last I checked for renovations, so it oughta be empty," I offer.

TM took out his pocket notebook, and started writing down the groups. Riley and I were put in the same group, "Because together you both may have one brain," Rikki said, cattilly.

"Hey!" Riley said.

"Not very nice..." I muttered.

I argued that we should have Ahk, which of course didn't go over so well, not that I expected it to. Our group was basically all the criminals. YAY! Except Older Al and Ricca and Nitti, because all of them were doubles, and it would be confusing.

Our group was to search the two wings of The National Gallery, The American History Museum, and then come back for meet up.

"We might's well have the Natural History Museum, since its betwixt the two..." Riley said, eying the map.

"Yes, because I want Frankie near the big jewels," Rikki said.

Rikki, Larry, Riley, and me would be the group leaders, it was decided, by us, and the idea went mostly without protest, except for Al the Younger, who challenged my ability to lead.

"A leader gotta be able to take on any opposition singlehanded," he belly ached.

"Says the man with five body guards," I snipped back, "Bu, if it makes you feel better," I knocked him over my leg, "I can kick your ass in a fight."

Al got up, "That wasn't fair! I wasn't ready!"

"You ready now?"

"Yeah?"

I knocked him over again.

"So, you're takin' orders from me 'n Riley now, Gallucio, 'k?"

"Yes ma'am," Gallucio said, dutifully.

"Good boy, you get a gold star," I peel a sticker off the page, and stick it to his chest.

He lit up like a christmas tree.

"No self respectin' man takes orders from a woman," Al complained, under his breath.

"Oh, can it, Whineypants! You're married. You do so take orders from a woman."

"You claimin' marital contract?"  
"No, I'm claimin' yer dumb," I said, "Now quiet time, or no gold star for you!"

Al looked at me like, "(sarcasm) OH, no!"

CAPONE'S POV

The Ghost of Fat Yet To Come Walked calmly over to me, while Marlow was arguing with Rikki about whether or not she was allowed to use her guns on this mission. From the looks of it she was using fighting batons.

Marlow didn't seem to like that idea. Least not as much as she seemed to like her guns.

"She's beautiful," The older me said.

"Yeah," I have to agree with myself.

"I know you, and I know the thoughts you, and a few of your boys've had about her."

"You don't know much, old man."

"I'm thirty... I'm not old," the older me said.

I stare at myself, "no..."

"Yeah."

"Jesus..."  
"Keep your mitts offa that girl, ok."

"I wasn't gonna do nothing," I said, defensive.

"Yeah, sure. Look, she's got a boyfriend. He likes her, and she likes him, they might even love each other, I'm actually pretty sure they-"

"Is there a point here, somewhere?" I asked.

"Yeah, leave her alone. Don't touch her. Don't even think about it," he's staring at me the way my father used to when the coppers would bring me home to the door. When they left he'd try to talk to me about why I did what I did, though we never got anywhere.

But I always took that look serious. Coming from myself though, it was just a conscience.

Another one.

I've just about always ignored them anyway.

I oughta know this about myself by now, but I guess I haven't quite picked up on it...


	5. Shiney Super Humans?

**AN Gold star to RageRomania for noticing Frankie's accent change. She's losing her accent, and her manner of speech is altering. Why? Partially because she's been around people with a different accent, but there are other reasons. What are they? You'll have to keep reading to find out...**

FRANKIE'S POV

"Keep a phone on you at all times. If you see anything out of the ordinary, call TM, since he is going to be in the Castle with the Vikings keeping an eye on the gateway," Rikki said.

"Ok, what about me?" Nick asked.

Everyone looked at him suddenly, "When did you get here?" Larry asked.

"Um, it's my weekend with you..." Nick said, "I got on the plane when it touched down in New York..."

"Haha!" I exclaimed, "Excellent parenting skills, Larry!"

He glared at me, "Um... ok. I'm supposed to let your mom know whenever I take you out of state..."

Rikki rolled her eyes, and cast a quick spell, then said, "Call her and tell her the plane touched down just fine."

He did, and for some strange reason, his ex seemed to have no issue with the fact that we were in DC, "Now, you," Rikki said to Nick, "You will sit with TM in the Castle and keep watch, and help him man to phones. Ok?"

Nick sighed, somewhat disappointed, "Ok."

"Alright. Let's go!"

I went to kiss Ahk goodbye, and found that the quick peck wasn't enough. I had been spending every night for the last week, in his arms, so close I could almost always feel his heart beating. And now I was walking away for hours!

"Alright! LET'S GO!" Rikki repeated, and i guess that didn't get her the reaction she wanted, because she snatched Ahk by the collar and dragged him away from me. I still smiled. I couldn't help it. I always felt this way after he kissed me, "And Frankie," Rikki yelled after me, "Don't do anything stupid, or illegal."

"Other than the breakin' and enterin' I'm 'bout to commit?" I yelled back. I willed Ahk would be safe.

As we walked across the frozen dirt, I tried to keep the warmth from that kiss bottled up inside of me, because it was the only warmth accessi ble at that moment. I'd never really needed a coat. I could always weather the cold, and since it couldn't kill me, it seemed as though a coat would be useless. The statement that I could weather the cold doesn't mean that I couldn't feel it.

"Hey, ain't you cold?" Gallucio asked, none too quietly.

"I'm alright," I smile.

"You want my coat?" he asked nervously.

"Nah, I'm good, an' anyway, it'd drag awfully on the ground, 'n I wouldn't be able to use my hands, would I?"

He looked rather much like a disappointed child who hates the fact that he can't be of help.

"I'll be alright, Frank," I smile, "Don' worry 'bout me so much."

"Alright," he brightens mildly.

And though I tried not to show it, I was glad to be inside.

The card key that Joey had given me last time granted me, mostly, unlimited access.

I pulled my hoodie off and stuffed it into my messenger bag. I took out the baton's harness and fastened the straps under my breast as I scanned the Museum lobby for the cameras and any exhibits that might be wandering about.

Riley put a lock spell in the elevators in the lobby while I buckled up, eying a gaggle of skantilly clad nymphs giggling as a suit of armor chased after them. The armor was being chased by a angry looking cedar.

"Uh..."

"Frankie..." Riley said, drawing my attention.

"Yeah?"

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Uh, ya know..." I grin, shrugging.

"Don't think Ahk would appreciate it if you did anything-"

"Stupid?"

"Yeah..." she looked rather judgmental.

"Ok, you take Al and his lot, and sweep the galleries that way, and I'll take these and sweep this side o' the joint."

"Ok," Riley said, "See you around then," she looked at me, as if she didn't really trust me.

"What?" I asked.

"This is a classical art museum..."

"Yes."

"Um... il y a les femmes nues ici…"

"Would you feel better if I called Ahk to ask his opinion on the matter?" I asked taking my phone from my pocket.

Riley just sighed.

I dialed anyway, and Rikki answered, "Yes?"

"Um, can I talk to Ahk?"

"NO!" hung up.

"Hm..." I said, looking up at Riley, apparently you'll just have to trust that I won't do anything against his wishes.

She just rolled her eyes and started away.

"Rendez-vous in thirty," I called.

RILEY'S POV

Frankie's group was at the meeting point before my group. After a moment, I noticed there were a few new men in her group.

The new guys, put Al put the new guys on edge.

"YOU!" Al snarled.

"Signore Capone," glared the new man who was dressed in a military uniform. His voice had a strange accent to it.

"Uh... Frankie, who's this?" I asked.

"Oh, this's Napoleon," Frankie says, nonchalantly.

"Bonaparte?"

"No, Dynamite," Frankie rolled her eyes, "Now you two will behave and you will work together, or else."

Al said, "Or what?"

"Or I'll get Ahkmenrah to put your ass back to sleep."

"Because Loverboy does everything you tell him to."  
"Yeah, fer the most part," she admitted, "Especially when dumbasses mess up our world saving mission! So shut it, and be nice!"

Al's knuckles clenched, and I felt mildly afraid for Frankie.

Frankie got WAY inside his personal space, "It sucks when someone's tellin' you what to do, yeah?" she asked.

"Except sometimes it's for your own good."

"As it is now."

Al glared at her, "So, you bringin' out Ivan next?"

"No," Frankie said, "He's in the archives, and I honestly don't feel like exerting that amount of effort, as I am lazy!" she backs up.

FRANKIE'S POV

"Alright, Riles, you got the entrances blocked?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said mildly annoyed sounding, like she was a teenager and I was an annoying mother who asks about trash that has of course been taken out. Why would I even ask.

"Notice anything out of the ordinary?"  
"Not really..."

Gallucio spoke up suddenly, "The art was angrier than last time..."

"What d'ya mean?" I asked.

"Well, last time when we locked 'em up-"

"You locked them up?" I demanded, partially infuriated.

"Well... You know..."

"They was under orders," Al says, to take the anger off of Gallucio.

I sigh, "Continue, sir."

"When we lock 'em up last time they put up a fight, yeah, sure, but this time it was like they was fightin' for the sake of fightin', not to protect themselves, but just because they could."

"He's right," Razolli said, "It seemed more chaotic than I remember.

"Yeah... it feels darker..." I pondered aloud, "darkness... chaos loomin' all about in corners..." I whispered, "Not logically probable, but possible in a reality of suspended logic..."

"What are you talkin' 'bout," Al asked.

"Oh, she just does that sometimes," Riley said.

"Has anyone seen anything shiny..." I muttered.

"What?"

"A thing through the gate would have magic... potentially shiny depending upon the amount of magical discharge. The portal is shiny when it's open coz it is. To come through from the other side must be super human."

"So... Superman?" Clyde asked.

"No, not superhuman as in a human with superpowers. In the original Latin. Super meaning above. Above Human. Like a god or deity or a spirit. From the land of the Dead it would either be Osiris, or Anubis maybe, but I don't see why... or how. There is no reason for them to depart the Dead Lands. There is their purpose. They perform a function, and they always have..." I paced in circles, trying to make sense of a nonsensical situation, "Would have to be magic... it would have to show up on an energy spectrum, and it would be shiny! Riles! Hack the security feed, run a loop, and put the true feed through an energy spectrum, and have TM watch it!"

"What?"

"You can hack the Smith's security system, right?" I asked, getting excited, "If you see the security feed, then... then you can run an energy spectrum over it, and then you can send the feed link over to TM, and he can watch the feed trough a monitor! With the spectrum he can watch for the energy that comes with the kind of magic needed to get through the gate!"

"I get it!" she pulled the cord out from behind her ear, and plugged into a computer by the desk, closing her eyes. She was quiet for a minute, then suddenly snorted a laugh, "I haven't seen firewalls like this since before Y2K..."

"What's a-" someone started.

"Shh!" Riley snapped, "Almost through... Call TM, and tell him I'm sending the feed over to him."

I took my iphone from my pocket and gave TM a ring and told him what we wanted him to watch and for what.

"Ok... I see what they should be seeing... and the spectrum's up... jeez this's a lot to watch. Nicky get over here and watch these monitors!"

"Keep an eye out for a brill light-"

"I know what tot look for!" TM exclaimed.

"Alright, wanna put Rikki and Larry in the loop?" I asked.

"Will do, TM out," he hung up.

"Well done, Riley McKellan," I said, patting her head.

She smiled and the cord shot back in to her head, and she pushed the plug back in place, "I know."

"So, what exactly just happened asked Younger Ricca.

"Nothin' much," Riley said, "But we just got the edge!" We highfived.

"Let's go already," Al said, 'There's more ground to cover."

"Yeah, on to American History then!" I started walking towards the door.

"Hold up, you can't go outside like that!"

"Why not?"  
"Because you'll freeze."

"Look, I can't die from the cold, and anyway the only place that we could pick up warmer garbs is the archives which we've already locked up."

"So unlock 'em," Al said, shrugging.

"Are you implying we steal?" Napoleon demanded.

"No, short stack, I'm implying we borrow, for the betterment of mankind."

I smiled, "When you put it that way..."


	6. New Clothes and Old Feelings

**AN Sorry my updates have been far between and few apart. I've been sick, and was having issues with internet connection. Here's the update.**

"Ok," I say, as a final precaution, "But if you rat on me to my superiors or my parole officer, I'll fong you."

"Yeah yeah yeah. I know I know," Al said, in a n aggravated tone.

I rolled my eyes, and rested a hand on the door that was sealed tight. I took Al's hand in mine, and gestured for him to take the next person's hand, and on and on. I walked through the wall, pulling the chain of people through with me, until every person was safely trough, though, admittedly blanched in most cases, which does tend to happen the first few times one goes through solid walls.

"Well... that was strange sensation..." one of the bank robbers grumbled.

"Aight... so the costumes oughta be... over... ah, there," I started over, "wonder if they have hats..." I started over to the door marked "Costume Warehouse", the others following me.

Riley came in close behind me and looked about the warehouse, "Whoa..."

"My thoughts 'sactly..." I intoned, "Oooh! Corsets!" I went running down the aisles, "Lookit these dresses!" I croon stuffing them into my bag, along with corset, stockings and undergarments, as well as a couple Edwardian suits, "Oh, I do love this place," I murmured, stowing away some lace fingerless gloves.

"OOOOH! Found the Twenties!" Riley called, an aisle over.

"Ladies," called Dillinger in a less that excited voice, "While I can appreciate your need to shop, I feel the pressing need to remind you that we have work to attend to."

"Five minutes, sir, we beg your indulgence," I said, going around the aisle, "Way I figure it, our job often as not includes time travel, pickin' up anything we might in the future need is, if anything, frugal, and an excellent business plan..." I folded up a flapper dress and slid it into my bag, along with a very nice pair of oxford style pumps.

I round another corner, finding myself in 1940's heaven. I procure a couple dresses, a pair of high waisted trousers, a blouse, a Marine's Helmet, A woman's factory uniform, a pair of aviation goggles, a nurse's uniform, and a swimsuit.

A ways down was grunge.

That was where I found a man's wool coat, long and large for me, by a lot, " Found a coat!" I called out.

"You don't have to yell," Al said, leaning against the rack, four feet from me.

"Oh, well, I found one. Whatcha think?"

"I think you could start by looking in the girl's section..."

I made a face at him, "Yeah, well, we're almost outta time so..."

"Thought you'd like this, though," He holds out a leather, magenta trench that looks strangely like one of Tonk's garments from the Harry Potter films.

"It's pink."

"It's maroon," he debated.

"I like black."

"I noticed. Figured you could do some o' that hocus pocus you do on it, or somethin'..." Al said.

I look at him. He knows me better than I give him credit for...

I take the leather coat in my hands, it's a warm thing, to be sure. I focus, and force the pigments in the material to become black as midnight, or at the least a very dark shade of blue. The end result is something I rather like, "Good eye, Al," I put my batons in my pack and slide the coat onto my shoulders, "I like this a lot."

"'Course you do," Al smiled, "You ready to go?"

He seemed suddenly very close, even though he wasn't. Had he always been so handsome? Or had I just somehow not noticed? He was looking at me, "You ok?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Why you lookin' at me like that?"

"I honestly don' know what you're talkin' about," and I don't think that I've ever told such a bad lie, "How 'm I looking at you?"

"I don't know..." he lied back the same way... looking at me really close, a hand under my chin, and this time, I didn't even consider pulling away, "You're very beautiful, ya know..." He pushed the hair from my eyes. He runs a finger over the bolt through my brow. Now he was close. He was so close that I could feel his breath on my mouth. I could smell it. It smelled forbidden, like cigarettes and liquor.

"Al..."

"Yeah?"

"I've a beau, that I love very much, and no matter how attracted I may find myself to you, I can't bear to hurt him, no matter who it'd be wif..."

He steps back from me, "I'll be honest. Lookin' back on it, I wish I'd kissed you or somethin' last time."

"Why?"

"Last time I saw you, I figured, if I did see you again, you'd still be solitary."

"Why?"

"'Cause of that thing you said 'bout people with criminal minds, which, Babydoll, you got in spades. I especially didn't figure you'd fall for a guy like him."

"Why not?" I ask, purely out of curiosity.

"You just seem like the type that goes for bad boys, and he just seems so... I don't know..."

"Vanilla?" I ask.

"Something like that."

"I used to go for the bad boys, and don' gemme wrong, it was fun, and dramatic, and exciting... but always short lived 'cause none o' 'em were... sensitive."

"Sensitive?" Al asked.

"One, uh, hurt me... and none of the others never noticed, or seemed to care."

"And he does?"

I smile, "He doesn't know. He knows somethin's off with me, but if he knew what. He cares about me, though. He's the only guy who's ever wanted more than sex outta me. The only flaw I see in him is how selfless he is. It's a hard act to follow. Well, that, 'n he don't like me stealin' or fightin'."

"And you clearly adhere," Al said, sarcastically, "You've changed."

"Yeah, I guess so..." I said, then after a slight pause of looking at him, I said, "Ya know what's real sad is the fact that last time we met, I prolly wouldn't've put up much of a fight if you'd done anythin' to me. I mean, I'd chew your ass out, but that's it. But as it stands, I can't betray him. Coz to betray him, would be to hurt him would hurt myself more than anythin'."

"You really love him?"

"Yeah, I really do."

"Why?"

"Becoz-"

"FIVE MINUTES'S UP, LADIES," Dillinger shouted.

x0x0x0x0x0x

"I saw you two," Riley whispered to me.

"Huh?" I ask, simply.

"You and Al, all close like..."

"We were only speaking."

"About?"

"Ahk, actually."

"Sounds like one failed seduction to me," she said, "I mean, if I was to try to get in a jane's britches, talking 'bout her boyfriend would definitely not be my mode of attack."

"It weren't like that in the least," I assure her.

Riley chews over a thought for a moment before saying in a quiet voice, "Do you think Al's attractive?"

"Yeah... I guess... but I'm tellin' you what I told him: I will never betray Ahk. Never."

Riley smiles almost then says, "You better make sure it stays that way."

"Well, yes mother," I said, sarcastically.


	7. Committing the Robbery Sorta

**AN So, we introduce new characters over the next couple chapters. I'm going to be doing this admittedly sorta sloppily. I've recently become mildly obsessed with The Pacific, which is an amazing mini series. If you haven't watched it, and you're allowed to watch rated M material, and you don't have a weak stomach, I suggest you check it out. As for what characters I'm using, first off, they're technically real people, so I don't know whether or not I have to disclaimer the use of them, you can probably google them as you read if you want to know what they look like.**

**Enjoy.**

RIKKI'S POV

Frankie and Riley's group was at the rendez vous point prior to my group, or that of Larry. Somehow, not surprisingly, they had driven a Military jeep into a wall in the Hall of Human Evolution. In a cave on the far side of the room, several different stages of evolutionary man is hidden, and on jabs a spear in the general direction of the jeep.

Frankie sits on the crumpled hood of the vehicle, taking a drag on a cigarette.

I went marching over to give her a good scolding, and snatched the offending object from between her lips and held it out under her nose, "What is this?"

"A smoke?" she asked.

"Don't be smart with me, young lady."

"Ok... but you know how hard it is for me to be anythin' other than what I am..." she said reaching over to the thing in my hand.

"You know better than this!" I scolded, "You remember who got you hooked on these? You remember who gave you a Nicotine addiction?"

"Yeah. I do, but I quit, and I been good, so I figure I c'n have jus' one."

"No!"

"'S been over five years. One ain't bouta hurt."

"Nor is the lack of one."

"It's not like I c'n even get cancer," Frankie snapped.

"It's a dirty habit."

"You're a dirty habit," she grumbled under her breath, and I had to stop myself from smacking her across her face.

I dropped the cigarette to the floor, and ground it under my boot's toe.

She just looked at the boot, then at me, no emotion on her face, save the indignation that burned in her eyes. She stepped past me and slid her arms around Ahkmenrah's neck, and kissed him, just to spite me, because she knows it bothers me when she flaunts her relationship publicly like that, partially because I don't think I will ever fully approve of their relationship.

I go to Riley and ask her about what happened that had led to them crashing the Jeep.

"Well... we were locking up the American History Museum, and it was going actually pretty well, until we ran into these Nazis-"

"Nazis?"

"Yeah, and in our escape, we crossed paths with some Apaches, and they tried to scalp us, so we did our best to keep them locked up, with was no easy feat, believe you me. And then Frankie got mauled by a German Shepherd-"

"Why?"

"Oh, it gets better!"

"I'm sure it does."

"Turns out the dog was one of those patrol dogs that they used in World War II, to detect Japanese soldiers, and the dog was just confused by the new scent, and went ballistic on Frankie's face, which healed of course, and the Marines are actually rather nice folks."

"How does this lead to a car crash?" I asked.

"I'm getting to that," Riley snapped, "Then the Japanese soldiers apparently teamed up with the Nazis, and Frankie stole the Jeep so as to make our escape, and it was going well until we hit the stairs... it's always the stairs..."

"So, the Marines..."

"They're over there, and they're on our side. By the way, Al was complaining 'bout the Japanese, and the Nazis having bullets. Said last time no one had bullets..?"  
I recall the last time when I had been the prisoner of the rouges, and Al had attempted to use his Thompson Submachine Gun... "They most certainly did not have bullets."

"So why do they have them now?"

"I don't know..." I thought on it, "None of the guns in the museum would have bullets in them... even if they were from photos, or cardboard cutouts, like Younger Al... Doesn't make any sense..."

"According to everyone, very little of this case does," Riley said.

Older Al looked at Riley weird, hen said to his younger self, "You were dumb enough to get in a car with the?"

"It was that or get banzaied..." Younger Al said.

I look back to see if Ahk and Frankie are quite through. But they were gone. I see them running up the stairs together, hand in hand.

I sigh.

Idiots.

FRANKIE'S POV

"D'you think we oughta head back down?" I whisper, resting my cheek on his head.

"Yes... I suppose," He murmured against my shoulder, sighing, "I think I should be glad to be here with you, at your work, but it could have come at a better time."

"Yeah. I have to concur. I mean, could evil not wait 'til we're done being overly sexed?" I asked, slipping my baton harness on over my shoulders.

"Apparently not..." Ahk smiled, straightening out his clothes.

"I'm actually having problems focusing on work," I sigh.

"As am I," he kissed my forehead.

I take his hand in mine and start over to the stairs, away from the nice little bench that we had previously occupied.

We passed the Hooker Gallery (I kid you not, that is the name of it. It's the exhibit hall with all the historic Jewels) and from the corner of my eye, I saw them all, "OOOOOH! Shiny!" I ran in, and stared at all the different jewels.

"Don't..." Ahk said.

"Don't judge..?" I asked nicely.

x0x0x0x0x0x

We returned to Rikki who looked miffed at us. Especially me.

"Assume the position," she ordered.

"Oh, come ON! I had a chaperone and everything!"

She looked at me, and I knew that didn't matter to her.

I pressed my hands to the walls as she patted me down for anything stolen.

She came up empty, but then looked me over, "Remove your boots."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

I undid the laces, and the side zippers and stepped out. Rikki picked them up and flipped them over. A box cutter blade with masking tape wrapped around one end, and a large emerald.

She held it up, to the light, and put it in her pocket.

I narrowed my eyes at her, but I said nothing more on the matter.

Ahk, fearing a confrontation, dragged me away from her, and held me forcibly still, as if he thought I was going to go running at her, claws bared. It wasn't a completely improbable assumption, as I found myself really wanting to reclaim my stolen stolen goods.

"Ok, so TM was going through the feeds you sent him, and he found something," Rikki said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"An energy signature," she hands me a print out, "Before he sent it to me, he tried to describe it, but was having a tough time doing so, coherently."

"Then how did he?" Ahk asked, because he hadn't seen the print out. I would be unable to tell what I was looking at, without being nervous, "This can't be what I think it is."

"What?" Ahk asked.  
"It could be what you think it is," Rikki said.

"What is it?" Ahk asked.

I handed the paper to him, somewhat reluctantly.

He looked at it, and his face looked far from amused, "No."

"What is it already?" Al the Younger demanded impatiently.

"How?" I asked Rikki.

"He could have somehow come through the gateway," she offered.

"But he wasn't in the Lands of the Dead," Ahk protested, "And if you did it right, the only place that the portal would be connected to would be the Lands of the Dead," he looked paler than I'd ever seen him, "You're sure you did it right?" he asked Larry.

"Yeah, it was pi. 3.14... you know..."

"Uh, pi is 2.16, etc... Please tell me you didn't input 3.14159265. Please, Larry!"

"Would that be bad?"Larry asked.

Ahk's eyes went wider than I've ever seen them, "You opened the portal that went to the emptiness of limbo! It was where Set was supposedly sent to wait out all of eternity as a punishment by the other gods for his crimes!"

"So... that's bad?" Larry asked.

"What is the problem?" Sacajawea asked, nervously.

"It's Set," I said, "No wonder IBSID sent an oracle to tell us personally."

"Yeah..." LArry said," Who's Set?"

Everyone looked at him, even if they, too were wondering the same thing.

"He's the Ancient Egyptian deity, who is the bodily representation of chaos and malice, and darkness," I explained, "Which would explain why everyone's so on edge."

"We don't have the equipment or, the man power to deal with this," TM said, on speakerphone, "even with our new, military friends."

"Well... there is a place where we could potentially acquire-" I began.

"No," Rikki snapped.

"But he-"

"No. You go back there, and there's no guarantee that you'll be able to leave again, or even want to."

"First of all, Diane's existence will ensure that I will want very much to leave, and second, send the Marines wiv me to keep an eye on me, and make sure everythin' goes off wivout a hitch."

"No."

"So... you'd rather face the scourge of the Ancient World, wivout knowin' how to confront it? Genius Plan! I'm sure that'll work."

"Cut the sarcasm," Rikki glared at me.

"I can ask him if he can help."

Rikki sighed, "You have half an hour. Take your... Marines, and Riley."

I highfived Lt. Hillbilly, "Let's roll."

We preceded down to the loading dock where the trucks are parked.

"You drivin'?" asked Leyden.

"Hell yeah," I responded.

The whole group looked really rather nervous

"Are you sure that's advisable?" Captain Haldane asked, in a polite, yet wary tone.

I realized then that I had gained the ability to make World War II Marines nervous. There's just one more things off my list of things to do before I don't die... SCORE!

"I'd let someone else drive, if anyone else knew their way 'round DC... but no one else does... so... sorry...You guys wouldn't mind gettin' in the back cab would ya?"

They didn't SEEM to mind, though I don't know if that means they actually didn't. If they did, the more verbal members of the group remained silent on the matter.

The roads are familiar. I don't think anything has really changed since I left. Some of the houses are different colors than I remember, and some of the flower beds are different, but other tan tat, it's exactly the same.

A few blocks from the Capitol, was a small corner store, a three floor building, with the top floor being a small attic. The second floor was a small apartment. All the lights were off in the building. I get the door unlocked, and let the Company in to the facility, and I look around. There's not a sound.

The store was an old drug store, with a lunch counter down one side, and on the other side were six or seven rows of shelves. At the end of the counter was an old cash register.

"Ok, you lot stay here... I'm gonna go up to the attic, and see if the old man has anything that could help us in our cause."

"Who lives here?" asked one of the mortar privates, Sledge, nervously.

"A former IBSID agent. He's probably asleep, so you have to keep quiet, ok?" I whispered, "Be right back."

I got up to the attic, and found the old service chest that I knew would hold information, if anything was to. I picked the lock and was starting to sort through things, when I heard all manner of hoopla from the store. I rolled my eyes, sighing, "Ima skin those idiots!' I growled, heading back into the store, the lights were still off but in the faint glow of the street lights through the big front windows, I could see that both the Marines, and the former agent had their weapons pointed at each other. I flipped the light switch, and illuminated the shouting men.

They all looked at me.

"Hi, Dad..." I smiled, hoping this would work out.


	8. Scary Demon In Hair Curlers! Hide!

Pops looks me over, slowly recognition crept into his face.

"By god, child what have you done to you hair? And your face? Are those piercings?"

"Um.. no?"

"Better take them out before your mother sees..."

I pull the stud from my nose and the bolt from my eyebrow, and shoved them into my pocket, just as Diane came out the door, curlers in hair.

"Oh!" she looked at the Marines, "I didn't realize we had company... George... friends of yours?"

"Eh..." Pops shrugged, "they're with her," he nodded to me.

"And this is?" she asked.

"Uh, my name's Frankie Marlow, Mrs. Stuart, and we just need to ask your husband a few questions."

Pops looked at Diane, "It's Kara."

I narrow my eyes at him."

"Well, it's about time you came home, you ungrateful wrench."

"It's wretch, Diane," I correct, not exactly politely, but I didn't care. After the things she expected me to do, after trying to marry me off, it isn't as if she should actually expect my respect.

She glares harder, "What have you done to your hair?" she demanded, gesturing to the jet black of my hair, her eyes flipped to my wrist that was covered by a few black jelly bands, my koi tattoo, Sammy, was vaguely visible. She snatched my wrist, and glared even harder, "Now, we'll never be able to marry you off," she scoffed.

"Oh, boohoo!" I yanked my wrist back, "'N anyway, you oughta know that it ain't perm. I can peel it off whenever it pleases me to. Which it don't. You're such a supporter or Roe v. Wade, you oughta know it's my body my choice."

"You're a pro-lifer... aren't you."

"You should know," I glared.

"And I can see you've clearly gained an education since you left."

"'N you more wrinkles," I quip in return.

The wrinkles were accentuated by the harshness of her glare, "I'll get your friends some coffee."

"Don't bother. We're leaving in a few."

Not that she pays me any mind.

"Gee thanks," I said to George.

"I can only lie so much to her," he said, then looked at my companions, "So your friends are... Oh. How're you doing, Ack Ack?"

"George," Ack Ack shook his hand.

"Uh..." I stood there, sorta confused.

My father greeted almost all of the Marines, by name, until he made eye contact with Snafu, at which point, Pops lunged at the cajun, and hoisted him up by his shirt fronts. I'd tried my best to hold him back, which of course didn't work at all.

"What on earth're you doin'? Put him down now!"

"He cheated me!" Pops said, angry.

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't," I said, trying to calm him.

"Really? We played poker on Glouster, and he won by having two aces up his sleeve."

"Oh... seriously, Snafu?"

"Things is what they is," Snafu drawled.

"Well," I sigh, "will you put him down, anyhow?"

Pops dropped Snafu, and said, "I want my money back."

"You was at Glouster?" I asked, surprised, "I thought you was Air Force."

"I was... but I was Marines first."

"So how old are you actually?"

"I was born in 1895..." he said carefully, "But you know I can travel..."

"Wow... you're exceptionally old, then... you're 126 years old..."

"Yeah, technically."

"So.. you know all these guys?"

"Not all of them, "he's new," Pops gestured to Sledge."

"So, why did you never mention that you were a World War II vet?"

"Because you never asked," he sat down at the counter, and lit a cigarette.

"That isn't something I'd be like to ask, were it?"

He smirked, "So what're you up against that you need my help."

"Somethin's come through Kahmunrah's gates."

"Shit... really? What do you think it is?"

"Looks sorta like it's Set," I say, reluctantly.

"Don't play, girl."

"I'm not," I say, stone faced.

"HOw many are you?"

"Maybe thirty, total. Any advice on this one?"

"Yeah, pray."

"Seriously."

"Yeah. 'Cause the only way you're gonna be able to take down Set is with another god. Preferably Horus."

"How the hell are we s'posed to get him?" Riley asked, "Isn't his brain sorta scrambled?"

"Like eggs," Pops said.

"What 'bout someone descended from Horus..." I think aloud.

"LIke a Pharaoh?" Pops asked, "Could work, I guess..."

"Yeah... Ahk's gonna love that..." Riley muttered.

"Ahk?" Pops asked.

"He's a Pharaoh Mummy. He's among our numbers," I hastily explain, "But how does one go 'bout killin' a god?"

"You misunderstand. You can't kill. You maim, defeat or dominate."

"Dominate?" one of the Marines asked.

"You know what I mean," Pops said to me.

"From that one story?" I ask, hoping he meant something else. Something entirely different.

He nods, and Diane comes back with a tray of coffees for my group. The men for the most part seemed to hesitate. But they slowly reach for the cups.

Diane sniffs at them, in disdain, likely for their lack of cleanliness. Then she looked at me, "So have you sold your soul to Satan yet?"

"Not that you believe in Satan, but I'm not on speaking terms with him at the present."

She frowned at me. Pops got up from the counter, once more not wanting to be in this confrontation.

"So at one point you were on speaking terms with him?"

"It was a joke, Diane," I scoffed.

"I am you mother!" she snapped, "You disrespect me by calling my birth name!"

"I know this is a difficult to understand, but respect's thing to be earned, 'n in all honesty, you didn't do a thin' to earn respect from no one never."

"You see?" she plays her audience, the Marines and Riley, "You see this girl's lack of respect for her mother. The woman who carried her with no complaint-"

I snort.

"-and gave her the greatest gift, of life! A mother who gives of up all her dreams for her daughter."

"Yeah, you best believe she gave up all my dreams for me."

"Hold your tongue," Diane snapped.

"Naw, I'm good."

She glared and turned on her heel and leaves, mutterin gunder her breath.

"Your mother seems like quite the character," Haldane said, politely, in an effort to be nice.

"She always so fuckin' crazy?" Snafu asked, a little more close to truth.

"Yeah, pretty much. That's why I dipped outta this joint," I said.

Dad returned with a stack of manilla files, "I don't know what you said to your mother, but she's angrier than a cat dumped in a sack and dropped in a river."

"Yeah... Did you forget I had that skill?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes, "I went up to the attic, and found that the lock on my chest had been picked."

"'Magine that..."

He looked at me narrowly, and dropped a stack of manilla files on the counter, "I know you likely have to go, but I'd like to take a moment to give you these things. These," he tapped a finger to the files, "Are your arrest records. I'd've like to go over them with you, but I can't. These are for you to look through. They detail your lives as Marina Jones, Kate DeMarco, Caroline Smith, Vera Adler, and Frankie Marlow."

I smiled, trying to look innocent.

"You have no idea how hard I had to work to bury these and keep people getting to you."

"You did a bang up job, sir," I shot him a sarcastic thumbs up.

"well, if you'd've kept the same name it would've been easier."

"Also would've been easier to be caught."

He laid a thick leather bound book on the counter, his spell book. And something else. Something small, and metal, "This has a protection charm on it," he pressed the chain it to my hand. It's a dogtag on a chain. It's my one of father's dogtags.

"Thank you, sir," I whisper, slipping it around my neck, and under my shirt, and I slid the giant book into my bag.

"Undetectable Expansion Spell?" Pops inquired.

"Yeah."

"How big."

"Pretty damn."

"You guys want these to go?" Pops asked his war time buddies.

"I could go for anothuh-" Snafu started.

Pops narrowed his eyes, and went in the back room, muttering about how that sounded really rather like a personal problem.

I shook my head at Snafu, "Why would you cheat HIM, of all people?"

"Need money, don't much mattuh to me where I'm gettin' it from."

George returned with the to go cups, "Here you go fellas. By the way," Pops said stopping Snafu's hand, "I'll be the bigger man. I forgive you."

I put my face into my hand, chuckling at the seriousness of his voice.

I kissed my father goodbye and hurried out the door. Looking back from the truck, I see Diane giving Pops an earfull, of her nonsense.

I'd go back, but then I'd never leave, as Rikki had said.

Haldane was climbing in the cab behind the wheel.

"Whatcha doin' there, man?" I asked.

"I don't feel as though it's ethical to allow you to drive my men. You can direct me, but I will be doing the driving."

"Oh, uh, here's the thing..."

"Are we lost?"

"Oh, hell no. I'm just not good at giving directions, per se..."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah... I'm sorta like Sacajawea. I can lead you there, but I can't tell you how to get there."

"Well, try. Keys," he held his hand out to me.

I gave them over, and asked Riley, "Would you mind ridin' in back?"

"No problem," she smiled.

"Oh, there's like to be one..." I mutter.


	9. Can I Please Punch Him In The Face?

**AN: Sorry bout the delay on my end. I'm a college student so... yeah... anyway, here's my next chapter, and a warning for the rest of the story. It may seem mildly unorganized, and all over the place. I have a lot of ideas, and I'm trying to fit them all in. This chapter may also be mushy like baby food.**

**I don't own How I met Your Mother.**

Maybe, twenty minutes, and several cusses later, we pulled in to the loading dock of the Natural History Museum. Rikki was standing there, looking severely unamused.

"You were supposed to be back here over half an hour ago!"

"Yeah, someone wouldn't let me drive," I grumbled.

"And someone needs to learn to give directions," Haldane replied calmly.

"I don't want to hear it. There's something you need to see," Rikki said, leading us back into an exhibit.

Kahmunrah sits there, tied to a chair, rambling on and on, "-and when I get free of this bondage, you will regret ever having been born, Baby Brother."

"I swear by all the gods, if you don't shut up-" Ahk snapped.

"What? What will you do, Oh, Mighty Pacifist?"

"I'll knock that stupid hat off your head."

"Oooh! I'm simply petrified! No! Not my hat!"

The brothers glare hatefully at each other.

"Oh... hi.. whassup..." I stop in my tracks.

"We found him sneaking around, trying to cause trouble," Rikki explained.

"Uh-huh... so..." I walk over and stand by Ahk, and to Kahmunrah, I say, "So, you're with Set now?"

"Perhaps I am," Kahmunrah said.

"What has he promised you?"

He smiles slowly, "Why do you care to know?"  
"It's called motive, dumb ass."

"Power," he says after a moment, with a glint of something rather close to lust in his eyes.

Ahk shakes his head, "That's all you've ever cared about."

"At least I can care about something."

"Oh? At least what I care about can reciprocate my affections."

"Awwww... has Baby Brother found love? How sweet. I think I may be ill."

Ahk narrowed his eyes at his brother.

Kahmunrah's eyes move back and forth between Ahkmenrah and me, understanding coming into his face, "Oh... I see... but Ahkmenrah, even you could have done better than this... thing... even with your lack of charms."

Ahk snorted, "You? Charm? Have you met yourself?"

"Yes, as have many a woman."

"Oh, yes, I forgot. The deaf blind ones just tossed themselves in your path... or rather, they would if they could tell you were coming..."

Kahmunrah glared, and resumed his rambling about his superiority.

"You know when I was a child, my mother cast me a float in a basket in the river Nile-"

"That's the biblical story of the Exodus," Sledge said, confused.

"Is Kahmunrah Moses?" Riley asked.

"Is that even remotely true?" I asked Ahk, who was just shaking his head, head rolled back,eyes closed.

"It would explain a few things though..." I ponder aloud, "like the apparent differences in genetic structure, and the behavioral variations..." everyone was looking at me weird, "Um.. you know how most behavioral patterns are actually inherited, and there's some major behavioral discrepancies-"

"Major Behavioral Discrepancies," Ahk saluted.

I smiled.

Rikki rolled her eyes, "I swear to god, if you start that again..."

A few weeks ago, after watching way too many episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Ahk and I saluted every time someone used a word that doubled as a military title.

"Anyway, besides the lack of genetic behavioral differences, there's also an astonishing lack of physical resemblance, including but not limited to the shape of the outer ear!" I said, probably far too excited about knowing this stuff.

"Seriously..." Kahmunrah stared at Ahk, "It isn't even as if her body makes up for that..."

"I will punch you in the face," Ahk said.

Kahmunrah smiled, sorta creepy, "But she's a clever one... she figured it out the last time we were all together, too. Do you remember?"

"Remember what?" I ask, confuzzled.

"Oh, it doesn't remember... pity..."

"What did I figure out?"

"You've already said it, in a way. I think. I can tell that you know it. It's in your eyes."

"You 'n Ahk ain't brothers..." I say, hesitantly.

"There you go," Kahmunrah cackled.

I look at Ahk's face. It's pale with a silent rage.

"Explain yourself," Rikki demands.

"Baby Brother's mother wasn't my mother. She wasn't even married to my father. She was a slave. She died giving birth to you. Father took pity on you, and asked her to take you in. She raised you like your own. More than that even."

Talk about adding insult to injury...

"You're full of shit," Ahk said, clearly pissed, because I had never once heard him swear like that.

"Am I?" Kahmunrah asked... me.

He asked me because he could tell that I could tell that he wasn't. I don't want to answer because I know how much it'll hurt Ahk to hear. I could lie, but I don't know if I can find a lie in my current state of shock. I look away.

"It explains," Kahmunrah started again, "Why you would choose this freak as your bedmate. Though I can't think even of any slave that would take her to bed."

There was a horrible moment of silence before Ahk's fist smashed into Kahmunrah's face harder than I thought he could hit. Ahk turned in stormed off.

I looked at Rikki, and she nodded.

I went after him, and found him up on the second floor in the Hall of Western Cultures, sitting on a bench in front of a mural of an excerpt of the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

"You ok?" I ask.

"What do you think?" he asked, shoulders slumped, "Everything I thought I was, was all a lie. My mother was a slave, and I will never know who she was."

I sit beside him, and take his hand in mine, "The woman that raised you loved you, possibly more than she loved Kahmunrah, who was her blood. And honestly, who would blame her?"

He doesn't even smile, "I should've been a slave."

"But you weren't. You were Pharaoh, and everything happens for a reason. You were meant for better things than that."

"But for what?" he asked, "I didn't do anything worth remembering. And even if you were to argue that my reason was to stop Kahmunrah from being Pharaoh, he became Pharaoh after I died, only to die shortly after."  
"Maybe you were meant to come to New York. If you hadn't been Pharaoh, you wouldn't be here now. I know there's a reason, even if it's only so that you can be with me. Even if it's something that simple."

"The fates work to fix my love life?" he asked, smiling dryly.

"You were a good person in life, so maybe they want you to be happy."

He smiled, and shook his head. He bumped his shoulder against mine, and then he kissed me. He sat there silently beside me.

"So... do you feel better now?" I asked, "Or do I need to bring out the big happy-making guns?" I rested my hand on his knee.

He chuckled, and took my hand in his, "No. It's alright. Do you still love me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm the son of a slave."

"So were you a year ago."

"But you didn't know."

"You're also the son o' a Pharaoh, not that it matters to me.I fell fer you, not your pedigree," I rest my head on his shoulder. He looks back to the mural, and I can tell that he's still at odds with himself.

I don't say anything further, because I'd started to wonder if it wasn't better just to sit there by him. Maybe that was all he really needed, just for me to be there with him, for him.

He kissed my forehead, and held my hand.

It was all he needed.

I would be there for him when he needed it, because I knew what it was like to need the person you love to be there for you.


	10. The Worst Meeting With An Ex Ever

**AN: So here's the next chapter. By now you all know that Frankie is bi. if you would prefer not to read about such things, as they make you uncomfortable, you can likely skip this chapter, and I 'll try to fill you in in the next chapter. If you choose to read on, The person they summon in my mind looks like Claire van der Boom. If you watched the Pacific, think if Stella, if not, google will help you out. **

**Enjoy, and review.**

**thanks**

When we came back, there were debates over what to do against our foe. It seemed as if they were trying to get Kahmunrah to speak against his master, and apparently it wasn't really working out. Suffice it to say, all Kahmunrah was willing to disclose was that we would soon meet Set, and more than that, we would have to bow before Set, and recognize his might. If we did not, we would be smote down, and we would regret the day we were born.

"Has he shut it once since we left?" I asked Rikki.

"What do you think?" she said in voice so harsh it could be used to scold a sociopath. She doesn't like him, I can tell by the glare, that she and TM are giving him. I don't know why, but I wasn't in the least curious about why they were all so angry with each other. I understood why I hated him, why Ahk hated him, and to me, that seemed enough.

"Ok, so, what exactly is our plan here? TM asked.

"Well, we're clearly up against something bigger than ourselves here," Rikki sighed, "We can't beat a god, unless we have another god, or a decendent of one willing to fight for us. We would need Horus, but there's no chance of having him come to arms since he now spends his days eating roadkill in the middle if the midwest."

"He does?" Ahl asked, like a child who has had Santa Claus's existence confirmed to him, and in the same words, had it confirmed that Santa is an alcoholic.  
I glance sideways at Ahk, "If a man was the descendant of a god, he would be able to face a god, such as Set, in combat, and strike him down. Especially, if he was descended from the self same god that struck him down the first time..."

"I won't fight him,"" Ahk said quickly, "I can't."

"Why not?" Riley asked.

"He's SET," Ahk said, like that explained it all well enough, "He is a god, and not just any one. He enjoys nothing as much as he enjoys creating chaos in the minds of those that come against him. It doesn't matter what people used to believe, I am a man, and a dead one at that!"

"So you've got nothing to lose," Al said.

Ahk shot him a look, "I have more to lose than you do, sir."

"You may be a dead human, but you're a dead human descended from gods."

"Do you really believe that?" Ahk asked, dubiously.

"I do. Look, I met Horus once, and though, yeah he's insane, he's also a pretty cool dude. His existence implies that all your myths are true. That as well as other things I have seen. If all myth is truth, than you are in truth a son of gods."

Kahmunrah scoffs behind me, "Don't lie to the fool."

"Your father was Pharaoh, which means his family had the royal blood, even if his chief wife did as well. Even if Ahk and you were born of different women, you share a father, and thus the same royal lineage. Unless you're going to offer yourself to our cause, you can shut your ass up, co I don' wanna hear your rambling," I snapped the last bit hasher than I probably should have.

I look back to Ahk.

"Saying that he can defeat Set because his family a million generations ago were gods, is like saying you should be the queen of England because your ancestor some four hundred years ago was the cousin of Charles I," Rikki said.

"Actually, I would have been Princess of Wales, since both of my parents are still alive. Lawyered!" I yelled, excitedly.

Rikki rolled her eyes, looking rather unamused, "This is a serious matter, and you should treat it as such!"

"I do. I got this information from my father, so forgive me for considering it valid."

"I don't argue the validity of your information, but rather the application of them at your hands. Do you not find it illogical that you would want your lover to fight Set? Are you willing to risk him?"

"I din't say he'd be goin' it alone, did I? We'd have his back."

"Even if I don't want to fight him?"

I looked at Ahk, hesitantly, "Then you don't have to," I take his hand in mine, "We'll find another way. We know more than one god... or goddess..."

Rikki knows what I'm talking about right away and frowned, "No. You can't summon her."

"You automatically assume that I think of her," I tisk.

"You expect me to believe otherwise?"

"I just don't like the implications is all," I say, carefully.

"So, you weren't?"

"No, and I'm offended that you would think me so desperate as that," I said in an offended tone, "But now that you mention it..."

"No! You know how she is!"

"I know that she has a high stock in keeping order."

"And I seem to recall the manner in which you parted company. She will likely be very angry with you."

"It's better than nothing. And it isn't like she'd let the world burn to ash simply to spite me."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. She's... tempermental to say the least."

"We need help."

"It's your choice. But don't bitch about it when she tries to kill you."

I chew over the words, "I'm going to do it."

She looks away, and I know she's disappointed.

I scratch the summoning spell marks on the floor, muttering the incantation, and continuing to chant, I connect the marks with lines. I finish the chant, standing on the first symbol, eyes closed, palms up, offering.

The air in the room seemed to pulsate, the floors, the walls, everything pulsated with energy.

Then it stopped.

I looked at the woman in front of me. She was gorgeous as I remember her being. Her dark blonde hair was pinned back from her face, and she wore loose fitting cargo pants that hung just a little too low off her hips. The loose tee she wore looked like she'd snatched it from some guys floor as soon as she realized she was being summoned. But she wasn't with a guy. The rest of her was too put together for that. And she wasn't into guys.

She smiled at me, "Marlow?"

"Hey, Arty," I smiled back, she wasn't angry, which was good, "We need your help with a si-"

Her mouth over mine silenced me. I wasn't sure how to respond, as he had knocked me flat on my back. Her mouth was off mine for a second. A second that I snatched, "Arty- there's folks about us..."

"I don't care! I thought you were dead! I haven't seen hear, nor tail of you in three years... and I admit that I look forward to seeing both," she smirked leaning over me. I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back from me.

"I can't...Βλέπω κάποιο… τώρα (I'm seeing someone now...)"

"ποιους είναι αυτή η γυναίκα που μιλάτε για? (Who is she?)" Artemis demanded.

"Um... Αυτή είναι μια αστεία ιστορία. Είναι αυτός. (That's a funny story. She is a he.)"

"Ένα τραβεστί? (A transvestite)?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Αριθ.… ακριβώς αυτός. (No... just a he.)"

Her face paled then turned red, "Είπατε ότι συμπαθήσατε τις γυναίκες (You said you liked women.)" she was becoming angry.

"Συμπαθώ επίσης τα άτομα (I also like men.)"

"Ποιο άτομο είναι αυτό? (Who is this man?)" She demanded, ready for blood.

"Όχι ένα άτομο. Αλλά Pharaoh. (Not a man. But Pharaoh.)"

"One of the children of that loon Horus?" she demands, so enraged that she falls back to english. her eyes take to the crowd around the room, looking for him. Her eyes finally find Ahk, and she finally got off of me. she stood before him, studying all of him, "Oh, γλυκός ένας μου, you could do so much better than this," she glanced back at me.

"I assume the better would be you?" I ask, still on the floor.

"Naturally," she smirked, turning back to Ahk, "So this is one of the legendary heirs of Horus."

"My name is Ahkmenrah," Ahk held out his hand to shake hers, "A pleasure, ma'am."

I could tell it was no such thing. This was likely a rough night for him. I've never seen him so tense. there was a nervous jealousy in his grey green eyes that made me nervous.

Artemis sniffed, and turned her back on him, "So you summoned me here for what, to rub it in my face that you're so happy with a man? Or was there some real reason for it?"

"We need help with Set."

She scoffed, "Another Egyptian."

I narrowed my eyes. Had she always been this way, had I just been blind to it? How could I have been? Was it brought on by the green eyed monster?

"What makes you think I will help you?"  
"The fact that you know as well as I what Set will do if he is unchecked."

Now began the debate. It would be the toughest debate I would ever have to make.


	11. Akward Explanation

**AN Another quick shorter chapter. Enjoy and review.**

"You, madame have me confused for someone who actually cares," Artemis said.

"It doesn't matter where you go, no matter what plane of existence in which you choose to dwell, if he gains the dominance that he seeks, he'll spread like a plague."

"Perhaps I will defeat him myself when that happens, and take the world for myself. You seem to forget that the human race doesn't exactly agree with me."

"Uh, why, exactly?" Larry asked.

I glanced at him, with mild embarrassment at the question, and the fact that one of mine had asked it.

Artemis glared at him with a ferocity that I was partially relieved to not have pointed at me.

"Because Larry Daley, " her eyes flash, "your race forgot my name, and my places, and cut away all my power. I was once a great protector of the wild things. Your people cut back the trees, and killed the animals as an unintended sacrifice to your land lust. Your horrid race ruined the world."

"They're not all that way," I objected.

"You are a traitor, yourself, to your own race, elf, by defending them," she spat.

"I don't defend the ones who commit the crimes you acurse, I defend the ones who are innocent."

"There are no innocents, Frankie... you of all people should know that. You should know better than anyone," she looked at me, "You used to swear it as your motto. You were able to do the things you did, because no matter what, we're all sinners inside."

I look away, "I was wrong. There are pure ones left in this world."

"There are none. Why should I help those who don't try ever to help me?"

"You know there are those who try. And Set will do worse to you and the things that you love than man ever could. He wil burn it all to ash, or make your beloved animals think they are being burned and in their chaos, they will trample each other to escape a fate that isn't theirs."

"How do you know?"

"It's the type of person he is. You know I'm right."

Thought comes into her face, "I'll try to get what help I can."

"You're leaving?" asked a suspictious Rikki.

"You will need more than an elf, a vampire,a cyborg, and a demigod to defeat Set," Artemis smirked, "One goddess won't even be enough, even if she is me. I'll see who I can get, and I will try to return tomorrow, if you can hold him at bay until then," she smiled at me, shimmered and disappeared.

"So... can we trust her?"

"I do believe she means to kill me..." I thought out loud.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Rikki said, in her dry voice, "She'll turn on us at the drop of a hat, you can be sure of that."

"Then why did we we just go through all that?" asked Corporal Burgin.

"Because it's better'n nothin'," I muttered, "Uh, wa she always so... y'know-"

"Yes!" Rikki said, "And you just noticed."

"Well... she was doing other things with her mouth then-" I started until I realize that Ahk is looking at me in a mildly interested way.

"Go on," he said, crossing his arms, "Don't stop on my account."

I bit my lip, trying not to smile, "It's a funny story, that..."

He smiled slightly.

"It was long before we met..."

"I assumed it was," he smiled wider.

I looked at my watch, "It's twenty minutes until sun up."

"Where are we gonna stay?" Riley asked.

"If memory serves there are beds in the archives," Rikki said.

"Aw, hell no," Al interjected.

"What?" I asked.

"You can stay at my house."

"Um, how?" Riley asked.

"There's a large photo of a park a few blocks from my house in one of the galleries," Al explained calmly, "My mama won't mind filling a few extra rooms."

"But your wife might," I pointed out.

"Mae? Oh, she keeps to herself for the most part. She shouldn't give you a lick of trouble."

"But will you, if you don't know us yet there?"

He chuckled, "Odds are I won't even be there."

That is how we ended up in 1921 Chicago.


	12. It's All In The FamilyIn A Weird Way

**AN Another chapter, longer this time. I have links to what a few of the characters should look like.**

**Carmina: .com/display_pic_with_logo/350713/350713,1265577431, (apologies for the water marks)**

**Mae: .com/hairstyles/formal/short/wavy/scarlett-johansson?ref=hair_types**

**Frank: .com/images01/31/m_**

Al strolled up to the front door of the house at 7244 Prairie Ave, slipped a key into the lock, and walked in the door, hollering at the top of his lungs that he was home, and that there was company with him.

People seemed to pour from every door, every crack.

A large middle aged woman with black hair pinned back in a bun, and clothes that, even for the time in which we were in, were old fashioned. She jammered on in Italian, embracing Al, and quickly kissing him on both cheeks.

"ciao, Mama," he smiled.

She chattered on, eyeing each of us, "Chi sono tutti i vostri amici, Alphonse? (Who are all of your friends, Alphonse?)"

He introduced us by name, and when his mother's eyes fell upon me, she walked slowly to me, and she embraced me firmly, so that my head rested against her corseted bussom."

"Um... hi..?" I asked, unsure of what exactly was happening.

"La mia cara ragazza. Sono così felice di vedervi! (My dear girl. I'm so happy to see you!)" she exclaimed, "Così bello, ma voi ora sia così scarno. (So beautiful, but you are so skinny now.)"

"Did your Mama just call me skinny?" I asked, "I love her!"

"Carmina, che cosa vi hanno fatto ai vostri capelli? (Carmina, what have you done to your hair?)" she twists a lock of my jet black hair.

"Oh... No," I understood now why she was being so farmilliar with me, "il mio nome è Frankie. Mi avete erroneo per qualcun altro, signora. (No, my name is Frankie. You have me mistaken for someone else, ma'am.)"

"No! You Carmina," she insisted, "I can tell (Posso discernere)."

"La mamma, Carmina è piccola, si ricorda? (Mama, Carmina is little, remember?)"

"Conosco questo! Ciò è lei più grande! (I know this! This is her bigger!)" Mama insisted.

"I sorta feel like there's something farmilliar about her... and I can't help but think the word Nonna (grandmother)."

"Shu shu shu," she hushed me, "Siete scarno come un osso del pollo! (You are skinny like a chicken bone!)" she tsked, then called, "Bambini! Pranzo! (Children! Dinner!)"

I hadn't noticed two children peering down at us from a floor or two up, over the banister, until one of them, a husky boy of maybe four or five, came running down the stairs, and embraced Al. I had seen a small photo of the boy in Al's pocket watch. It was his son, Alfred.

The other child was a slight girl that looked a mite younger than Sonny. She was pale, with tangled curly, pale coppery blonde hair. She was dressed in a white sailor dress that, I was sure, had been impecibly clean when she had left the house. There was now a smear of mud long the right knee, and a powdering of dust from there down.

She looked sheepishly at Al, "Hullo, Uncle Al."

He sighed, clearly suppressing a smile, "Carmina, what have you done to your new dress?"

"I fell out of a tree..." she said, doing her best to look innocent. I knew, because I knew that look. I know it because I had less than an hour ago used it on Artemis. It was strange to look at this child as she spoke in a calmly sophisticated manner with a man more than five times her age. I know the age difference, because I know the child. I know her far too well, because Mama Capone had been right. She was me.

As soon as Mini Me set eyes on me, she grinned wider than a cheshire cat. She knew me, though I wasn't sure yet of how.

"Hullo, Frankie," she said.

"Um, what up with Mini Me?" I asked.

"This is where he hid her..." Rikki said, mildly amazed.

"Hid me?" I asked.

"You know... from the men that wanted me?" Tiny me called Carmina said.

"Who wants us... and why?" I asked.

"You know... because we know everything," Carmina said, confused, "Do you truly not know?"

"I truly don't."  
"Oh, dear... it seems that they have managed to tamper with our brain... Why did they do it?" she demanded.

"Tampered?" I asked.

"Somethings had to change," Rikki said, calmly.

"They oughtn't to have done it. I'm sure there will be a great deal of consequence for their actions," Carmina said firmly.

"What's going on?" Al asked.

"Vi ho detto che era Carmina (I told you she was Carmina)," Mama Capone said, in a disappointed voice.

"How did you come by this child?" I asked Al rushing towards an answer.

"A friend of mine asked me to look after his daughter for him, a few weeks ago."

"Who was this friend?"  
"A farmboy, you wouldn't know him."

"Try me."

"George Stuart."

I had known it was coming, but it didn't make it easier to believe, "My dad was a bootlegger... this has been an educational night..."

Carmina patted my hand, "If it causes you any solace, all of Diane's family are bootleggers."

"Somehow it doesn't..." I admit.

"I didn't imagine it would," Carmina sighed, "Papa brought us here because it's safer for us. We're special. The Priests say so."

"Said so," Al corrected gently.

"The past tense is only correct if you view time as a linear progression of events. I don't," Carmina said to Al, correcting him in return.

"What priests?" I ask her.  
"The bald ones in Egypt... Jeez... what did they leave in there? Lima beans? They must've if you are now employed by IBSID."

There are footsteps on the stairs, and we all look back. A remarkably attractive woman walks slowly down the stairs. She smiles at Al, "Good to see you."

Al smiles back, and kisses her cheek. She was Mae Capone.

Mae looks down at Carmina, "You're dinner's getting cold, dear."

"Indeed, come along," Carmina took my hand and tugged me to the large table a few rooms down.

Mae looked us all over, and her eyes seemed to linger on me longest, almost judging for my sins. I don't even know what to do with that look.

MiniMe ordained that I was to sit by her side, so I did. Mama Capone passed a plate to Carmina and to me. At the table, there was a mixture of Italian and English spoken between the siblings, spouses, and us. You could tell when it was something they didn't want Mama to know, because that was generally when they broke into English, because Mama didn't understand, even if it did leave her mildly miffed.

It was sorta strange because I felt like I knew all of them. Especially the brother sitting across from me. It was sorta foggy though. It took a few minutes to figure that judging by the overtly farmilliar smile he was sending me, either he knew me, or he wanted to. I wasn't sure of which it was.

As the meal progressed I eat small amounts, as per usual. Well, Mama wasn't having any of that.

She kept ladeling more food onto my plate than I could ever in my life eat. No wonder Al got so rotund...

After I was sure I would never be able to move again, Mama started to clear away the plates from the table. I got to my feet, and began helping her, as her sons had slowly begun to leave the table.

I stacked up some of the plates, scooping any larger lumps of food on to the top plate, the way I would if I was bussing tables.

Mama came back in and shooed me away from the table and the dirty dishes, "No, lasciate quelli. Non ho bisogno di chiunque di aiutare! (No, you leave those. I do not need anyone's help!)" she said.

"Voglio aiutare. (I want to help.)"

She smiled, and kissed my forehead, "Accenda, ora. Siete il nostro ospite. (Go on, now. You are our guest.)"

I sighed and walked from the room.

"She likes to have something to do," said the brother who had sat across from me. Salvatore, or Frank, he'd been called both, "If we help her, she gets offended, and proclaim that she's not old yet. She's only 54."

I chuckle, "Not so old, I guess."

He looks at me a minute longer, "You really don't remember me, do you?"

"I've been getting that question a lot in this house," I admit.

"I bought you a drink a few weeks ago. Started talking you up, then you said you had to go to the powder room, and that was the last I saw of you. Now here you are with my little brother."

I remember. It was a job, a while back. One of my first after leaving New York. We had been undercover, and this smooth talker offered to buy me a drink. I talked to him for a bit over an hour, and then we had to make our move. I'd meant to go back, just to talk to him. I had a boyfriend, so there wouldn't be any funny business. But we'd left.

"I'm sorry. Something came up, and I couldn't stick around," I explained.

"So, you and Al?"  
"I have a boyfriend, and it isn't your brother."

"He know that?"

"Yes. They've met. Why?"

"Well, uh, couldn't hurt you much to make sure Mae knows you ain't eyein' Al, capisca?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't."

Frank sighed, "Al's got a bit of a wandering eye."

"I'm aware."

"It looks a little like his eye's wandering on you."

"It isn't, I assure you, sir."

"'Sir'," he chuckled, "Ain't heard that one, yet," his eyes caught on something, and he smiled, "Hey, Carmine."

Carmina peered around the corner at us.

"We all call her Carmine."

"Why?"

"'Cause we're supposed to be pretending that she's our cousin."

"Cousin?"

"We get a lotta media attention, and the last thing we need is folks thinking one of us suddenly has a daughter."

Makes sense.

CAPONE'S POV

Five empty rooms were filled. It went off for the most part without a hitch. a major one would be that I had somehow taken Frankie in. Carmine was Frankie. Hours later my mind was still trying to grasp at the fact. Make it make sense.

Frankie of all people. Beautiful, alluring, confounding Frankie had been the small sweet little innocent, and honestly confusing girl that I had wanted as my daughter.

When two months had gone by, and Carmine was still in my custody, some part of me admittedly wanted George to never come for her. Some part of me wanted to keep her.

But she grew up to be Frankie.

George was her father. I had met him, and I hadn't even recognised him. He was old then, or now.

He had known me, of course. That was why he had smirked at me the way he had.

I put Carmine, and Sonny to bed, and found myself glancing out the window in the hall at the city. I went down the stairs, and took my hat from the hook, and plopped it down on my head, and reached for the knob.

"Where you off to?" asked Frankie's voice behind me on the stairs.

"Just going out for a bit. What're you still doing up?"

"I haven't slept straight through in five years, Al. I can't get back to sleep. I'd talk to MiniMe, but she's asleep."

"Yeah, I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at you the same again."

"So will you quit flirting with me?"

"Let's not get crazy here, babydoll."

She smiled, rolling her eyes, "You're impossible."

"Am I?" I asked.

"My opinion of you is as such."

"I don't think everyone in the world would agree with you."

"I don't pretend to be concerned with what the rest of the world thinks, unless it will effect me. I speak for myself only."

"Somehow I doubt that you don't care about what other people think. I think you wish you didn't care. But a wish to be a way doesn't mean you are that way."

The look on her face made it clear that she found my statement ironic, to say the least.

There was this akward silence between us, where neither was sure what else to say.

"Well, I'm off."

"To a speakeasy?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Could I come with you?"

I leaned on the banister, "Now why would an innocent little thing like you want to go to a place like that?"

"You know better than to think I'm innocent. I want to go, because I've never been to one, and I'd like to."

"You'd have to whip up some glad rags," I said.

She more or less just snapped her finger, and was wearing an entirely different dress. One that would make her fit in better with this time.

"I'll get your coat,"I conceded.


	13. The Results of the Raid

**AN: I apologize in advance for Frankie's behavior.**

FRANKIE'S POV

The speakeasy was crowed. People were crammed into the club like sardines in a can. Al kept his fingers wrapped tight around my arm as he pressed through the crowd. The sounds of chatter wasn't quite almost deafening, but it was loud. A few voices dropped when people saw the man pulling me through their presence. A few voices asked in wonderment if that was truly Al Capone, the great humanist who represented the people better than the officials who had passed prohibition legislation.

Al didn't lead me to the bar. He led me up a flight if stairs to a mezzanine. At the top of the steps was a velvet rope, when a man stood. He saw Al, and bowed his head, opening the rope for us to pass.

This floor wasn't nearly as busy as the one below. Al walked quickly to the bar, where a man stood attending.

"The usual, sir?" the attending bartender asked.

"Of course, Andre," Al smiled.

Andre poured a tumbler of gin for Al, and handing it over before glancing at me, "For the lady?"

"You got any real whiskey?" I asked.

Both Al and Andre laughed at me, "Of course, madame," and he gave me a glass.

I greeted the sweetly sour burning that the liquor put in my throat. I drank the thing down, glad of it.

I hadn't had whiskey in a long while, and had admittedly missed it. Al chuckled at me again, "You oughta be careful, or you'll make yourself sick."

"I can handle it," I smile, "Can I have another?"

"Andre, another for my friend," Al called, "Put her drinks on my tab."

"Yes, Mr. Capone," Andre said, pouring another whiskey for me.

"All the stuff up here's the real stuff. I get it from Canada, for the most part. I try to get whiskey from Ireland when I can, but that's tougher to do. The stuff you're drink was smuggled from Ireland into Canada."

"That's very interesting," I said, dropping a half-mouthful of liquid down my throat, "Its Jameson's, right?"

"You know that so quick?"

"I used to drink like a fish."

"And you don't anymore?"

"I don' need it the way I used to," I explain, "I used to need to drink to get me through my life."

"What made your life so hard, princess?" he asked in that way that people do when I know they don't think I've had any struggles in my life.

I just smile, "Just things that don' cause you no thought."

"Just because you think I won't care doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to talk about it."

I don't think about this in relation to Al so much as I think if it relating to Ahk. I guess I should be able to tell him the thing I keep secret, and I assume that he doesn't want to know, and that it's just all around better that way, but is that the right way? Should I be able to tell him the things that I can barely bear to discuss?

And if i couldn't tell Ahk, then how in the hell does AL expect me to tell him?

Admittedly some part of me wanted to tell Al, right then and there, because I think it would have made it better if I could tell someone about the things that haunted my darkest dreams. I want to tell someone, but I don't want anyone to know. I don't know if I could bear having people think of me as so weak, so defenseless that I couldn't save myself.

I need them to believe I'm strong. Stronger, even than I truly am.

These thoughts put a bitter taste under my tongue, so I drain the last of the whiskey in my glass. Its refilled quickly, before I even know it. I'm tempted to drain this cup too, but I don't. I look into it. It was good whiskey.

I almost wanted to ask Al to buy me a bottle, but I didn't dare.

I just kept downing them. I watch the people down on the main floor, and slowly felt lighter than myself. I laughed, and smiled easier than I should have. I slipped off my stool at one point.

Al caught me, and righted me on the stool, "You ok, there, Babydoll?" he asked, bemused.

"Are YOU alright?" I asked back, with a smirk, "Coz you is."

"I leave you alone for a few minutes, and you're drunk as a skunk," he said, "How much you had?"

"I count nine, but maybe more'n that," I giggled, leaning against him, "You smell nice," I said, though, to this day I couldn't tell you why.

He chuckled, a sound that was so much deeper with my ear pressed against his lungs. As I reached for my glass, he pried it away, "I think you've had enough of that. Andre," he handed the last bit of my drink away.

"Awwwwm," I pouted up at him, most comically, I'm sure, "I weren' done wiv that!"

"Christ, your accent," he muttered.

"What o' it?" I slurred my words together.

"I can barely get what you're sayin'."

"Silly man," I tapped his nose.

The door banged open then, and a quite angry voice called out, "This is a raid!"

"That's our cue to exit," Al said, putting his hat back on his head, and helping me down from my stool. Andre pulled a level, and the mirror lifted. He shoved all the bottles to the back, and dropped any cups of liquor out the window. the same was being done on the ground floor, I knew because it would take so long to get the crowd dispersed.

Al pulled me to a wall that opened in to a stairway, a few of the other people on the upper level followed suit, and went running past us down the stairs, some slipped and fell when the wall closed shut, and there was no light, save for a little from the door at the end of the stairs.

At the end of it, was an alleyway. Al and I stumbled out, most of the stumbling admittedly done by me. I laughed, as the trip down the strange stairway in the dark was quite the adventure. I leaned back against the wall, giggling uncontrollably.

Al tried his best to shush me, "You're gonna get us caught," he said, struggling against a smile.

I leaned against him again, gripping his arm to stop me from tumbling to the ground. He stood me up his hands on my shoulders, "Can you walk by yourself?"

"I could nav'gate a stair in th' dark, coul'n' I ?"

"I guess so," he let go of me, and started towards the street. I started to follow, wobbling, but straight on. I held on to his arm to steady myself.

"Thought you was alright," he said, jokingly.

"Don' judge me, gangsta-boy."

He hailed a cab to take us back to the house, and it was a mundane cab ride by the standards of my last drunk cab ride, with Ahk.

Most of it was pretty fuzzy, because I became tired, and I vaguely remember using Al's shoulder as a pillow, and dozing off for a minute or two.

When we pulled up outside of the house, Al helped me out, and up to my room.

I was actually surprised by how much of a gentleman he turned out to be in this one instance. He had offered to help me into my pjs, an offer which made me suspicious. But in all honesty, at the moment I had lacked the balance to dress myself. He didn't try anything funny, though, and he even offered to tuck me in.

I don't know why I did it, but I know that I will likely regret what I did next, for the rest of my life.

I kissed him, and thanked him for his aid. It was strangely satisfying. So I kissed him again. And he kissed me back. He kissed differently than Ahk. It wasn't bad though, except for the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that somehow I had just ruined something in myself.


	14. Not That Kinda Man

**AN I saw, too late, that i didn't get the whole links in the other day. I can't get the links to copy over, so I'll try to put links up on my profile at some point.**

**This is pretty much the end of the last chapter but in more detail, since i had to rush through it last night, and I wasn't satisfied with how it came out.**

AL'S POV

I knew for a fact that I shouldn't be kissing that girl. I knew it, but I knew most of things I did were things that I shouldn't be doing. It hadn't really ever stopped me. But some part of me almost doesn't enjoy the fact that I she's kissing me, without any call for it on my part.

Almost.

I mean, she can barely keep her head from rolling to one side, and the other, like it's too heavy for her to keep it up.

Marlow pulls away from me, giggling, "Shame on me, 'n shame on you."

"On me? I didn't do nothin', did I?"

"Not a damn thin'," she started to lean back into me, until I stopped her.

"You shouldn't do that."

"Yer objection's subsequent to the action," she points out, slurring, and leaning into me again.

"Now hold up Babydoll."

She pouted at me, "What's the problem?"

"You're drunk, that's the problem," I said, "Y'oughta sleep it off."

"'N if I don' wanna?"

Something in the way she said it, and the way she'd been looking at me made me feel balled up inside, "Now you look here, I ain't abouta take advantage of your state."

"No?" she asked.

"You think I'm the kinda guy that would?"

"Maybe I do."  
"Then you don't know me so well as you like to think."

"I don't like t' think nothin' 'bout you."

"You can say that if you want, but I don't believe it for a minute."

She giggled again, and sat down on the bed, pulling a cigarette from where she'd hid them in the nightstand, and lit up. Smoke poured out from her lips slowly, she chuckled, "Yer a strange one, Mr. Capone, I'll give ya that."

"Kind of you," I smirked, sitting next to her.

"I admit, sir that I'm attracted t'you."

"You don't say. I thought I had somethin' on my face that you was gettin' off for me."

"I don't know why I kiss'd ya. I still love Ahk somethin' fierce."

"Yeah, so? Attraction doesn't mean love. I love my wife, but doesn't stop me from lookin' at other models."

"But if you really love someone, shouldn' ya not want no one else?"

"It's not in our nature to be loyal. You don't love me, and you never will. I'm alright with that, and I don't expect you to ever love me. Don't mean we can't have any fun though, just not now."

"I don' understand why I'm even thinkin' 'bout this," she said, "Y'ain't no kinda respect'ble."

"That's why. Everyone loves a villain.

She snorted, "Bad boys..." she whispered, "they'll yet be the death o' me," she took a deep draw on the cigarette, "I'm sorry o' any trouble I caused ya," she looked at me. She started to lean into me again.

"You should get some sleep," I said, looking away from her.

She stumbled over to her pack, and dug out what looked like a large sleeveless shirt, and a pair of what had meant to be pants, but that looked like they wouldn't cover a hand.

Marlow pulled her dress up over her head. I averted my eyes, and started away. There was the sound of her hitting the floor. I looked back at her, and saw her sprawled out on the floor. Couldn't even put her pants on...

I go over to her, and offer her my hand up. I help her dress, trying not to look at her body in that way. Despite my best efforts, I found myself looking her over. I mean, I'm only human.

She sorta blushed, and in the half light, it made her freckles stand out on her face. She was pretty. As hard as I had tried not to see it, she was pretty.

Marlow smiled at me, "Night, Mr. Capone," she kissed my scarred cheek.

I walked from her room, and down the hall to where Mae slept in our room. I looked at her, fast asleep, unaware of my entering the room. I change and climb into bed next to my wife.


	15. Don't Be  A Pretentious Douche Face, Plz

**AN: I've been home for the last few days, which is why I've popped out so many chapters this week. that, and to try to make up for what a horrible updater I've been.**

**Anyway, Enjoy, and please review, my lovely reading peoples.**

FRANKIE'S POV

When I was to wake up, I didn't want to leave my bed. I never do when I have to. But I had been sleeping on a fold out half of the last few months,and the floor the other half. And that to me had been a luxury. The real bed was warm and soft, and beautiful.

Riley shakes me, and practically screams at me, "Come on, Mama Teresa made cinnamon rolls!"

I could smell them. I want to eat, and I want to stay, "Bring them," I groan into my pillow.

She dragged my pillow from under my head, and started whacking me with it.

"Alright alright! Quit it, I'm up."

"You don't look it."

"I am, ok?" I rolled on to my back, and looked up at her. I get up and I realize that my head didn't hurt, and I perfectly remembered everything I had done the night before.

The fact that I hadn't blacked out didn't surprise me, as I never do, but I had slowly gained the ability to not have a hangover. A skill that the acquiring of I had no problem with.

Riley looked over at the chair by the door. I hadn't noticed anything until now. Al had forgotten his hat on the chair.

She looked at me, with a look of mild shock, "Please tell me you didn't do something stupid," she begged.

"It wasn't like that," I said to put her mind to ease.

"Then what happened?"

"I was drunk-"

"Excuse me?"

"I went with him to a speakeasy, and I had some whiskey, and he was just helping me to bed."

"I'm sure."

"Not like that. He was a perfect gentleman."

"Oh, I'm sure," she said, sardonically, "I'm sure Al Capone was a perfect gent with your drunk ass."

"He was... I wasn't so much..."

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I may have sorta tongued him..."

"You didn't!" she said, sounding mildly disgusted, then she lit up, sorta like any girl who's friend just disclosed possibly the biggest secret of ever. She plopped down on the bed, exactly where Al had sat the night before. "Tell me everything! What was it like?"

"Um, it was ok..." I said hesitantly, "So... breakfast-"

"Ok? You're kidding right? I could cut the sexual tension between you 'n him with a spork!"

"It's not sexual tension," I sat down next to her.

She just shook her head, "You believe what you want to, but you need to work this stuff out. And what about Ahk?"

"What about him?"

"What do you intend to tell him about this?"

"I hadn't intended to tell him anything."

"Won't that be adding insult to injury?"

"I won't tell him because there is nothing to say. Nothing happened, and me an' Al already talked about this. We already talked about how nothing was gonna go down between us."

She didn't look like she believed me.

"What?" I asked, "Y'ain't gotta be judgin' me! Tell me you wouldn'ta done the same thing I did."

"I don't know," she said in a tone that means: I would not have sunk so low as you did last night.

She sorta looked at me like she wants to smile at me, but really is mildly disgusted by the crap I've told her.

I want a cinnamon roll right now, like no one's business. I wanted to eat something to fill the empty pit in my stomach that my ignored guilt was creating.

I didn't want to talk about this anymore. I got up from the edge of the bed, and started to the door.

"Shouldn't you put some pants on?" she asked.

"I'm wearing pants!" I shouted back.

"Barely..." I could just make out the mutter.

RIKKI'S POV

Frankie was late waking up of course, and she wasn't even properly dressed. She came down in one of her baggy tank tops, and cut off boxers. She sat down at the table, apparently unaware of the looks she was getting from people. She scarfed down cinnamon rolls like a starving woman.

Teresa said something in Italian that sounded like she was scolding. Frankie replied, in her tired way, of speech, chewed up bits of pastry falling out of her open mouth.

There was more scolding from Teresa, the only word that I understood was "prostituta."

Frankie grinned a grin that made even a hard boiled traditionalist like Teresa soften, and offer another cinnamon roll.

Al walked down and sat across from her, and a few seats down. I knew something was strange because Frankie made an overt effort to not look at him. A more overt effort than I have ever seen her make with anyone that she hasn't hooked up with.

She wouldn't.

She would not.

She would never.

Never.

She would never try to hook up with Al.

Not when she's with Ahk.

Not when she's happy with Ahk.

And I know that she's happy. She flaunts her happiness to the point of intolerability.

And yet the more I watch her body language, and his body language, the more unsettled I feel, and by the time that Frankie goes up to change into her actual clothes, I'm sure that there's something there. I'm sure, because Al follows her with his eyes, in a manner that I'm not sure I would call savory.

I want to reach over to her, and smack her across the face. Especially when we rendez-vous with our company, and she goes over, and kissed Ahk, and she looked at him as if there was nothing different about her.

FRANKIE'S POV

Kahmunrah was still tied to the chair.

"How'd you get him up here, without him putting up a fight?" I asked.

"I dragged him up here, in the chair," Ahk said, flexing his miniscule muscles. Not that he wasn't a little cut. Because he was, but he was only just. I wasn't really able to concieve Ahk dragging his brother up from the archives, and to think it was a pretty comical image to have in my mind.

"Bulloxy!" I said, laughing.

"Hey, I'm strong!" he said, jokingly insulted, wrapping his arms around me, and pulling me tight to him.

"Yeah, like a baby hedgehog," I said.

"I'm like The Situation," he joked, slightly raising the hem of his tee shirt.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," he grinned.

"What was the one condition of letting you watch The Jersey Shore?" I demanded, joking.

"That I never put that much gel in my hair?"

"The other one..."

"That I never be such a pretentious..."

"Pretentious Douche face," I nod.

"You actually watch that show?" Larry asked, clearly disgusted.

"Yeah," I replied calmly over my shoulder, "It makes him feel smart, and it makes me feel like a better person."

He grinned wider. I loved that smile, more than anything. I loved it almost as much as I loved the way it made me feel inside.

I realized that there was no one else I ever wanted to kiss, as much as I wanted to kiss him, just then. I kissed him, and it wasn't like the kiss I'd had with Al. It wasn't the exciting, forbidden, sloppy kiss.

It was better.

Better on every level.

How could I have even wanted any other lips but his? It was simple. I hadn't.


	16. Now You See Them, Now Everyone Else Does

**AN: A really very short chapter. I wanted to get this over with. Also, links to pics of my characters are now available on my profile.**

"I may have had some help, dragging him into an elevator, then out of the elevator, to here," Ahk admitted, turning back to the job at hand.

I looked at Ahk out of the corner of my eye

I was ok with what he said.

I was ok with Ahk not being the strongest guy in the world.

I was ok, that he bit his bottom lip a lot, the way he was doing it now, because he had a minor overbite.

I was ok with his imperfection, because the imperfection was perfection.

In the midst of all these thoughts, I became grateful of him. He wouldn't hurt me the way that Al hurt Mae.

Al cheated on her, without any thought about it. I almost cheated on Ahk that same way, with that same man. I almost risked breaking Ahkmenrah's heart.

I was unworthy.

I didn't want to be, but I was. I slid my hand in to Ahk's, silently. I didn't want to draw any attention to what I was doing, because it was no one else's business.

A bullet whizzed by my ear, and I turned into the hale of gunfire that was beginning to pour over us, "Hit the deck!" I screamed, dropping to the ground, pulling Ahk down with me.

"What are you doing?" Rikki asked, confused, looking behind me. I glance back, and there's nothing there...

"There were men with guns, they were shooting at us-"

"I'm sure they were," Rikki said, rolling her eyes. She thinks I'm making things up. A bullet hits the wall by her head. I look back and the men that I saw are there now. I yanked Ahk over to cover. Rikki slid a pistol across the floor to me.

"Who the hell are these assholes?" Snafu shouted to no one in particular."

"I'm guessin' they're with Set," Riley screamed.

I clipped one in the knee, and he went down.

As suddenly as they had come in, they were gone. It was weird. Until we realized that our prisoner was gone. His bonds had been cut. They had reclaimed one of their own.

"Shit," Rikki muttered, "We weren't nearly done questioning him, and even if we were, there went our only bargaining chip."

"Set would've let us kill Kahmunrah. He doesn't care about him," Ahk said.

I stood up, "Marines, with me."

"Where are you going?" Rikki demanded.

"We follow them, we find out where they're holed up."

"And possibly face another battle."

"We can handle it," I assured her, "Move out, boys."

Ahk started to follow us, but I stop him, "Where d'you think you're goin'?"

"With you, of course."

"No, you ain't a warrior. Stay here," I walked away from him, to catch up with my troops, "Ok, so, we need to not let them know that we're following them," I said to Haldane.

"We're aware of the procedures in this sort of situation, ma'am," he replied calmly, smiling.

"Oh, yeah... I mean, I know that... I was just... You know," my face felt hot with embarrassment.


	17. A Minor Speedbump

AHK'S POV

The Marines came back to us. I scanned their ranks, searching for her. She was not among them, "Where is Frankie?" I asked, urgently. They look at each other, not one speaking.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"She fell behind," one of them said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They knew we were coming. I don't know how, but they knew. We turned a corner, and there they were," said the Captain, "Marlow tried to shield us from them with some sort of spell, but they broke through. She tried over and over, but they took her."

"Who?" I demanded, even though I knew full well who took her.

They didn't have to answer because they know I know. They think of it as some sort of mercy on their part. They didn't want to rub it in my face that the woman I love is in the hands of my greatest enemy.

I couldn't react. I couldn't accept that this was happening.

FRANKIE'S POV

Set had taken the form of a normal human man. By normal, I mean, not with the head of some strange indiscernible animal. He was tall, over six feet. His head was shaved, and he was well defined, muscularly, almost to the point of farcicalness. His eyes were jade green, with pupils like a snake's, and I didn't like the look in them.

Everything about him seemed sinister, and cruel.

The sinister eyes focused in, and I liked them even less. As I stood before him I felt naked.

He stood from his throne, and walked leisurely towards me. He took my face into his hand. He turned my face this way and that, "Well... aren't you a beauty?"

I start to pull back from him, only to have his fingers tighten in my jaw.

"You also have an extraordinary power. But you do not draw on your full strength, do you?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," I snapped.

"of course not," he sneered, close to my face. He ran the back of his hand slowly over my cheek.

He smelled like a dirty mammal. A dirty mammal that had gone and wallowed in all sorts of wild grossness. I want to pull away from him. His breath smells like rotten lettuce and beer.

Have you ever smelt that?

It is a bad bad smell. it's the type of smell that gets into your nostrils and lingers in your scent receptors. It smells rather like death.

I try to turn away from the reeking stench of his entire being.

He peers closer to me, and mutters something in his ancient speech. He moves his other hand up, and shaved hair back over my head away from my face, and took the back of my head as another handle to grasp me with.

This whole time I have done everything in my power to not think of Ahk. I will not be used against him. If he isn't looking for it, he won't go looking harder for it.

"Yes... I can use you..." he says, and I hope he hasn't found Ahk in my mind, or heart.

"I'd prefer if y'didn't," I said between my teeth.

He chuckled, his death breath poured over me like a wave that wants to kill me, "That is of little importance, my dear. You will find that you may prefer a great number of things, but the preference will not make things so."

"What d'you want wif me?"  
"Only what all men would want with you."

AHK's POV

I felt a type of cold that I never in my existence had, "Set has her?"

"Ok. We need to come up with a plan," Rikki began in that infuriatingly calm voice of hers.

"Do you not understand what has happened at all?" I demanded, "Set hates me, my family, and my ancestors. If he knows what she is to me- He has my lover, Rikki. We need more than a plan."

"Ahkmenrah, you need to calm down. I understand your worry, but you need to focus. If you lose control of your emotions, you risk her."

I try to calm myself, but I almost don't want to. I regret saying that I would not fight Set. If I had, she wouldn't have been trying to get information. She would be here now.

"Ok, here is what we're going to do."


	18. The Execution of a Foolish Plan

**AN: this next chapter, is sorta longish, and sorta intense. Thank you for the reviews, I loved them so very much.**

I stood in front of the being of chaos. But I felt more nervous than fearful. I was more nervous that I had ever been in my life.

Set sat upon a throne, a chain in his hand that was attached to a collar around Frankie's neck. She wore some sort of skimpy dance outfit. When she saw me, her eyes went wide and her whole body stiffened.

"Speak," Set said.

I fell to on knee, "My lord Set. I come before you to ask for your grace. I offer my servitude to you, and ask to humbly join your ranks."

"Do you?" Set asked in a slithering voice, "And these men?"

I had my own chain. On row, I have the Marines, who he knows, and Young Al and his friends, who he does not, "I know some of these men have escaped you, with the aid of the witch," I glance at Frankie, the dirtiest look I can muster, "and that the other are in league with them. I bring them as a show of good will."

Set's eyes stare at me. I focus my mind only on what I have said, and the imaginary background Rikki has given me, but I feel like an insect under a magnifying glass.

"What is your name?" he asks me.

"Rami, sir."

"Rami..." he thinks over the name before saying, "Rise, Rami. Guards take these prisoners to holding. Rami. Approach."

I move forward, step by step until Set tells me I am close enough.

"You seem nervous, son," he says.

"It isn't everyday one meets a god," I lied.

"Why do you wish to join me?"

"Because I know your might, and I know that any who oppose you will surely fall. Besides this, lord, I have studied many religions and they all speak of the coming of a day of judgement. I think that you are the coming of judgement. The righteous will survive, and all others will fail. I believe that you are the righteous."

Set continues to study me, and I'm almost sure that he knows I'm lying, but he smiles, "Welcome, Rami. Where all others are wrong you are right. You see my might for the righteousness that it indeed is! I am the coming of a new age! An age of change and prosperity!"

I tasted the bile rising on my tongue, "How could they not see this?" I ask him, in mock wonder. I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering to Frankie on the floor by Set's feet, if just for a moment. She doesn't look at me, or even in my direction. She stares off into space, with something in her face that makes me sure that she's listening intently to every word, and is all too aware of Set's finger's stroking her hair tenderly.

It's only a moment, but Set saw it.

"You like my prize?" he asked.

"She's beautiful."

"Thank the young gentleman," Set ordered, and when she did not he wrapped a thick dark part of her hair around his fingers and yanked hard enough to draw a gasp from her, "I said, thank him."

"Thank you, sir," she said,in a painfully monotonous voice, glaring at me.

I have to force the next words from my mouth, "She has more spirit than she ought to, if you don't mind me say, Lord."

She glares harder. I know her true glare and this isn't it.

"I'm aware. I'm in the process of breaking her."

"Well, I'll leave the judgement to you, but I have seen that the threat of a blow id often more effective than the blow itself would be."

"In some cases perhaps, but not this one. She is far too defiant."

"I'd appreciate it if y'all wouldn't jaw on 'bout me like I wasn't here," Frankie snapped.

Set chuckled, stroking her cheek, "Oh, how I enjoy a challenge. And I can tell, Frankie Marlow, that you will be a challenge."

"You have no idea," Frankie snarled at him.

He chuckled again, tightening his grip on her hair. He glanced back at me, "Rami, take up a seat," a chair was brought up for me, "I would hate for you to be uncomfortable."

I took the chair, morally reluctant, as he still had Frankie's hair in his grasp.

"You see, Ms. Marlow here is Divinely Gifted."

"Gifted?"

"Divinely. That's what they used to call it, back when people believed in gods. It's actually just a genetic abnormality. A spontaneous and rare one. Have you heard of this."

"I believe I came across it in a reading once, but it was a very vague account," I vaguely remembered something about it being mentioned at one point in my youth, but I can't remember what the thing is.

"Every now and then, a child will be born of superior intellect. Superior even to the greatest minds of time. To this person, all things come easy. All things but one. And to you, it's math, isn't it?" he asked her.

She didn't answer. He yanked her head back and slapped her across the face.

"You will answer me when I speak to you."

"I don't like math," she spat.

"See?"

"She could escape if she wanted, if she was so truly gifted?" I asked.

"Someone has bound her abilities. It isn't the first time I have seen this. But it has been done in such a way that would allow her to slowly come into her power. Most of it has been locked up inside of her. Have you any idea how powerful I would be if i unleashed the power of a divinely gifted one?"

"You want her for more than her sex."

He looked at me strangely, "What?"

"A joke," I explained hastily, "Women say such things now, Lord."

"Are you a woman?"

"No, lord."

"Then never say such things again. In fact, I forbid anyone from ever again saying that phrase."

"Well, let me be the first to obey your wish."

Set regarded me with his cold eyes, then smiled, "I like you, Rami. You'll go far in my world."

I thought on the irony of that statement.

"Would you like a beer?"

At first I wasn't sure how to answer. The enemy of my family was offering me a beer.

"Um, I'm alright," I said, partially sure that h would poison me, given the chance.

"Oh, I insist!" He clapped his hands and a slave brought forth a tray with a pitcher and two glasses. He pours us each a glass from the pitcher, and then hands one glass to Set and one to me.

I thanks Set, and look as if I am taking a sip, when in fact, I was just wetting my lips, until Set drank of his.

They were from the same pitcher so he couldn't have poisoned himself.

I took a small sip, and was amazed at the quality of the beer. It was Egyptian Beer. I was sure of it. I had not had any beer such as this in the time that I had been in this modern world. I gave a small sigh of contentedness.

"You like?"

"Very much, Lord."

He smiles as if very proud of himself, then an idea lit his face, "Would you like to watch Ms. Marlow dance?"

"Huh?" I asked, not entirely sure I had heard him correctly. Frankie was by no means a graceful creature. She was clumsy to say the least, so why would it be assumed that she was a dancer?

"She can dance," Set said, "Very erotic dances from what I understand. Would you like to watch?"

His words make me more uncomfortable that I can rightly say.

"I would not want to impose on you-" I said.

"It's no imposition, as I desire to watch, and if she i to dance, why should you, my new friend watch? If you so wish."

I look over at Frankie, unsure of it. She doesn't look thrilled by the idea. She doesn't want to dance, least of all for him. I can tell.

But Set wants it and that's what mattered.

"My Lord spoils me."

He orders music for her to dance to and pushes her out to the floor. He instructs her to dance. She refuses, and is ordered more harshly to dance.

She glares at me, and closes her eyes.

I've never seen her dance this way. It's a dance of limbs, curling and writing. She's pretending Set isn't here. It's only for me. I watched, having never seen her dance in any such manner as this. For a minute I forgot everything else but her movement. She was pretending, as I was trying to, that she was dancing only for me, for my pleasure. Set isn't even here. We're in my temple, in New York, and it's just she, and me.

How had I missed this talent in her? How had she never danced for me this way?

The way she moves almost drives me mad. There was something in her way that made me think that she knew exactly what she was thinking.

Her hips moved beautifully with the music. I had never seen this, not on her.

I want to pull her over to me, but I know I can't. If I could, I would've held her to me long ago, and I would kiss her. It worried me because Set might be the type of person that would, like me, do so.

"Sir, might I ask her to stop?"  
"You do not enjoy?"

"I do, but I fear, Lord that if she carried on, I will likely go mad with lust."

"Good," Set smiled, "I want to have a woman that can easily make any man lust after them, especially if they had no desire to lust after them," he chuckled and yanked her the chain that was around her neck. I yanked her into his arms. he kissed roughly at her neck, wrapping his fingers in her hair. Frankie's eye locked with mine. They offer an apology that isn't hers to give.

She pushed against him, which only served to make him hold on to her tighter.

When he was through with her neck, he laughed and looked at me, "Oh, favorite follower, I apologize. I can have a woman brought for you."

"No thank you, My Lord."

"You aren't... a homosexual, are you?"

"Oh, no," I said, hastily.

"Of course not. Otherwise Ms. Marlow would have surely had less effect upon you... Oh, have you fallen for her charms and want no other woman after only an hour in her company," he chuckled again, then looked at me, thoughtful, then the smile is gone entirely, "No, it has been much more than an hour... You fell for her charms years ago."

"What, Lord?"

"Do not play me for a fool, Ahkmenrah!" he shouted, rising, and tossing Frankie roughly to the floor. She hits the floor and doesn't get up, or open her eyes. Out of reflex, I start towards her, but I was stopped when Set ordered his guards on me.

Set stands in front of me, "Bastard of Horus," he grumbled at me, "I thought I was quite through with your miserable breed after the greeks invaded. Poor Horus... He was so confused when the Ptolomies claimed his blood line. Then the Romans came, and he lost that last shred of sanity that he had so clung to."

I stared at Set, not sure what to make of all this, "I ask only that you release Frankie. Nothing more."

"Why should I do that? She is now of even more value to me. Perhaps I should bed her this very night."

"She will not consent."

"I don't ask for consent."

"Please don't. Do as you wish to me, I don't care. But let her go, and if you will not, then please don't hurt her. I beg you."

"The Enemy's Bastard begs... I like that."

"I'll beg as much as you want if you release her."

"That's not how this sort of thing works," Set sneered, "Don't worry about your precious mistress. I will tend to her. Take him in to holding!"

I'm dragged from Frankie's unconscious body where it lay on the floor. Set leaned over her.

This was bad. Very bad.


	19. All But What I Want

** AN: A slightly shorter chapter. Discusses mild torture.  
**

FRANKIE'S POV

I awoke to a sharp pain on my back, I let out a gasp of pain as my eyes opened.

I was hanging by my wrists from chains, at a height where I was about a foot from the ground. The strain of my body's weight on my wrists was terrible, as my whole body's weight was being supported by the weakest of joints.

And what made it all the worst was that I was in my underwear. It was like some sort of nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

Set circling me with a reed cane in his hands. This was what had awakened me.

"Ah, she wakes," he smirked.

"Why'm I tethered so?" I asked.

"I believe that it is time to cease with the games, and get down to work."

"Have we been playing?" I asked, unsure of how it could be.

"Why, Yes, of course. Until your lover had to come along and ruin our fun."

"I wasn't having much fun."

"It wasn't for you to have fun. It was for me."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't refer to it as 'our fun.'"

"There's certainly no reason for you to not enjoy yourself at the same time. Why continue to deny me?" he stroked down my side with the reed cane.

"I'd really prefer to chew sand," I glared at him, but kept my tone as serene as I could.

He made a small tisking sound and stuck me hard on the stomach with the reed. I buckled, but didn't cry out.

"You forget, Dear Gifted One, that I have seen your mind. I know all your secrets. You pretend to be a noble soul, but we both know that's all a facade. Isn't it? If you let me in, I can give you anything you would ever want," he's circling again.

"Except the one thing I truly want."

"Ah, yes... the young Pharaoh," he stops in front of me, "You can have him if you want. I can be anyone you desire." he smiled, a real smile, and his face and body changed slowly, morphing in to Ahkmenrah, right in front of my eyes. Ahkmenrah's hand smoothed the hair back from my face tenderly. "My treasure," Ahkmenrah's voice said. He moved closer to me, meaning to kiss me. I moved my face away, "I can be anyone you desire," Set's true voice repeated, sweet like poison. His face changed again, but this time, it's more than just the face. The color changed. He became monochromised. Al's scarred face smirked at me.

"I don't want him," I said, quickly.

"Oh, don't you?" Set said, himself again, "I told you already, I've seen all of your dirty little secrets, foolish girl," he circles again.

"You must have read someone else's mind. I have no desire for Mr. Capone."

Set chuckled behind me, leaning into my back he whispered in my ear, "You can't lie to me yet. But soon you may..." he walked to stand in front of me. He twirled the reed like a baton and it became the staff of Was.

I stare at the thing, unsure of what he meant to do with it, yet all too sure.

"You know what this is?" he asked.

"Yes," I don't feel confidant any more.

"Good. Let us begin," he lay the staff's head across my breast.

A burning pain wracks my body suddenly. A pain so intense that I scream.

AHK'S POV

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" I yelled, shaking the bars of the containment cell as hard as I could, "LET ME OUT!"

I kicked the bars, and slumped down to the floor.

"Dawn't quit now. Um sure they was jus' abouta let you out," drawled the cajun Marine sarcastically.

I glare at him, though I know he's right.

We were locked in the basement of the Industry Museum. The renovation had made it the perfect place for Set to hide out and plan his domination.

"What gave you away?" Capone asked.

"I said too much to protect her. I had tried to make a joke, but it cast doubt in his mind. He read mine, and I didn't have the proper guard up. He knew who I was, and who she was to me."

I heard a scream. A scream that could only be created by terrible torture. It was Frankie. I stood quickly and tried to find some weakness in the bars. They had taken Larry's phone, or we would have called in the siege.

There was another scream.

I looked around the room for anything that could give way and release us. But there was nothing. The bastards that had put us in here had put the cell phone just out of my reach.


	20. I understand Everything

FRANKIE'S POV

My breath came in ragged huffs. Every part of me hurt too much to do anything but just hang there. I don't even care about the strain on my wrists any more. That doesn't seem so bad anymore.

Set pressed his hand against my forehead. It felt so cold. He moved away the hair that was plastered to my face by sweat. I felt different from I had before. Not just the pain. But everything felt different. My head ached. I felt like I was expanding.

I understood everything instantaneously.

Everything that was and is and will be.

I see what he thinks, and says.

They're one and the same, with no difference.

There's everything to take in. It's oh so much to take in.

Will it ever stop? Will it be this way forever? For the rest of my life will I feel the whole world pressing in around me?

I feel for the first time, completely aware of myself. I was in that moment so painfully aware of my existence, and the existence of everything.

I feel everything.

What is this?

Set's face broadens in a smile, "You are as you were born to be. Your understandings have been altered."

His mouth isn't moving...

These are his thoughts. I am hearing what is in his mind. The words are tangled in with flashes of other thoughts. They are strange blurred things. Murky brown like when you mixed a bunch of paints together, and it's ugly, but you can still sorta see the original colors. There's no logical flow of thought... there's no flow of time. He thought too fast to make the images focus in.

I understand everything.

The world is making everything vertiginous, but while I can feel my existence expanding, it only expands so far.

Interesting... all this thought in the matter of seconds...

"You are gifted," Set said, really too close to my face.

"Not divinely..." I said. There's so many thoughts in my head that I have to force the one I want him to hear to the front, practically screaming it.

"No. The Gods do not decide your life. We do not grant gifts unto the lesser creatures. We do not help you just for the sake of helping you. It was never the way you were raised to think of us. We use you mortals to fulfill our own needs, or desires. I mean, look at Zeus," Set sorta shrugged like he was just talking about that guy in his math class that he looked down on.

Like Set had such high sensibilities.

"You are like us," Set said, "but you are not us."

"I do not comprehend."

"You are a being superior to your race. Both of them. You would already be better than humans, as you are also of elf blood, but now, you are above even they. Your abilities are now on the level of a god. But a god is born, and is superior to every other creation by family genetics. They are born thus of their parents. While your family has had, so far as it has been recorded, a genetic gift for intelligence."

Set took my chin in his hand and made me look at him, like I was some sort of rare artifact, "But you, you're advanced beyond what your family could be. Your family passed on to you an intelligence, and an ability to use magic. But your abilities have expanded beyond what anyone could ever hope. You are a genetic quirk. And a random one at that. If you had children they would not be the way you are. They would have the intelligence that is genetic, but they would never be the way you are. Unless you birth a child that is Divinely Gifted as well, which the odds of which are so incredibly low, that, honestly, perish the thought."

"What if my child's father was part god?" I ask him in my mind.

Set's mouth curled at the corners in disgust, "You will never have children with him. He will be dead before that can happen."

"You have the ability to see the future?" I ask, once more in my mind, it hurts so much to speak.

"Yes," he smirked.

"Liar."

"What makes you say so?" he demanded.

"You would share the ability with your immediate family, such as your brother and sisters. Osiris would never have gotten in that sarcophagus, and Horus wouldn't have gone to sleep on that hill, he would have known that you planned to prove yourself as "dominant" over him. And if you were truly all knowing, you wouldn't've eaten that lettuce."

"How do you know that none of us were looking for these things?"

"You all would've started looking for things in your future. You would have started trying to find things that you would want to avoid."

"You seem to be taking this better than most would..." he said in a strange way.

"Of course I am. I understand everything. I understand even things that you haven't said, but have implied.," I focused in on the chains that kept me suspended, they became brittle and shattered. i strike his chest at five points. He stands still for a second, then fell slowly down.

I ran to my backpack, and pull on a shirt and jeans. I don't bother with the shoes. There isn't time.

I picked up my bag and went running. I knew where they were. The guards told me in their silence, and they fell by the waysides as I went. I made them fall. They saw me, and I waved and they fell.

Ahk stood up quickly as I ran to the cell. He came to the bars, "Frankie!"

"Move away," I said. The metal barred door burst apart. The men looked from the door to me, "Let's move, fellas," I bent down and stared at the blackberry on the floor. I picked it up, "This is Larry's..."

The men stood about me, not moving.

"How did you get away from Set?" Al asked.

"I have ways."

"How can we be sure you're you?" Ahk asked.

"I am what I am."

"You expect us to believe he just let you walk out of there?" Private Leyden demanded.

"He didn't. I had to knock him out.."

"How?" Al asked.

"I just did..." I said, I moved to Ahk, "You can verify my identity..."

He looks mildly apprehensive.

I leaned up and whispered something only I could know in his ear. He grew red to the curves of his ears.

"Verification?" I asked.

He nodded, discomfited.

"Then we should go because a few of th guards are coming, and I think they've found out that I took out their kin," I giggled, though I wasn't sure why. They came around the corner. I pushed them through the air, and they were gone.

I ran, though the others hung back, "We have to go now! There are more coming." My head aches dully.

They came forward, slowly, almost hesitantly.


	21. I Don't Exist

**AN The lyrics used herein belong to Regina Spektor. I should expect her stuff to be used a lot, because some of her stuff is good for what I might need Frankie to be like.**

The moment Rikki laid eyes upon us, she sighed with relief, "Oh thank god!" then she saw that I was rubbing my temples, "What's wrong?"

"She has a headache," Ahk said softly rubbing my back.

Panic came into Rikki's eyes, "Her head?"

"Yes?"

"Frankie... did Set alter you in any way?"

"He made me as I was born to be," my voice sounds wrong.

"Excuse me?"

"He made me better'n I was. As I was born to be," I said.

"Oh no..." Rikki said, "You're not ready for that."

"I understand everything..." I said in a low voice, "There's too much!" Everything was flooding me, until I felt like I would explode. All the thoughts were coming in to my brain. I couldn't turn it off. I fell to my knees, and realized I was crying.

Ahk put his arms around me.

"It's so crowded in here..." I whispered.

"I know, I know..." he whispered, like you would to a child, though he didn't. There was no way of it. His whispered words were lost in the din of manic sound that poured into my brain. He was holding my head to his chest.

Rikki comes over and snatches my face away from him, and forced me to look at her, "Frankie, you need to focus on my words."

I try to, but it's so hard. I can't. There's thoughts in my head that aren't my own. Time is twisted. Am I here now, or am I still hanging by my wrists... needles. Not from Set, from someone else... years ago... or that have not even happened...

AHK'S POV

I try to comfort her, but I don't know how. I stroke her back gently, "It's alright Frankie, it's alright."

"No," she shrieked, "They can't just stab me with those god damn needles like I can't fuckin' feel 'em!"

I don't know what to say, "I won't."

She beat against my chest, "You don't comprehend. I know what I know," she began to repeat those last five words over and over.

I look at Rikki who looks on nervously. I've never seen Rikki look so disquieted.

"What's wrong with her?" I demand.

"It's complicated..."

"Tell me!"

Rikki looks at Frankie in my embrace. She's muttering to herself and twisting her hair between her fingers.

"She was born as one of the Divinely Gifted," Rikki explained.

"Those are a myth," I stated, "I mean, come on. A human that was born to be so gifted that they were practically gods? They're a made up way for us to understand geniuses."

"Ahk, you need to come to terms with something. Almost every myth is real. You're the descendant of gods. They exist, your girlfriend has hooked up with a few of them, so if you don't believe me, ask her."

"Because she's clearly in a state where she's able to discuss her... wait... a few?"

Rikki looked uncomfortable again, "I take it you guys haven't really talked about her past... um, what's the word?"

"Stuff?" Larry offered.

"Her past stuff."

"No, we never really..." I pause, "Not that that's any of your business."

"At all?"

"No," I was getting agitated, "Can you please focus on the issue at hand?"

"She is a myth, if you want to think about it in that way," Rikki went on.

"That's not possible. Set was wrong."

"If Set knows what she is, that's what's wrong with her. He probably wants to use what she is."

"Which is what exactly?" the older gangster, Torrio.

"Basically, a super genius..." Rikki, "But if you want a more elaborate explanation, then she's a magical super genius. She was born that way, but her father bound her mind up when she was four so that she wouldn't be used against herself."

"The masks came into my dreams and snatched me from my bed... so I ran to yours."

I looked at her confused.

"She was meant to come into her powers when she was eighteen slowly, so that she would be fully as she was meant to be when she turns twenty-one. The slow gradual adaption would let her not be... well, like that," Rikki gestured to Frankie, and she would be able to take care of herself."

"They got me anyway," Frankie giggled, hiccuping, tear still flowing down her cheeks.

I looked at her, "Why did she say what she said?"

Frankie peered at me like a cat peers at something it's never seen before. She grasped my face in her hands and slammed her forehead against mine.

"Owww! What the-" I realized there was suddenly more memories in my mind then there were before. I had had a best friend that I had forgotten. I had grown up, and had thought she was imaginary, but she was real.

She was real.

She had had a nightmare and had come running into my room through a wall.

I looked down at her, but she was gone from my arms, but she was gone. Frankie sat by the wall, with a piece of charcoal, drawing long lines on the wall, in clusters of six, and began writing musical notes, humming to herself, with her shoulder pressed to her ear.

I went to stop her, but Rikki stopped me by my arm, "That's the overture from Bizet's Carmen..." she said

"How's she doing that?" asked Sledge.

She doesn't answer him, but goes over to Frankie, "What are you doing, Frankie?"

"There's too much in here," Frankie whispered. "I'm putting them on the outside," she resumed humming.

"Stop her," Rikki said to me, "It won't work the way she thinks it will."

I take her writing hand in mine, "Why don't you come sit down."

"I have to finish," she said softly.

"Let someone else look at your work."

"It isn't mine!" she cried.

"I know. Will you please come sit with me?" I gently take the charcoal from her fingers.

She struggled, "No!"

"You need to stop. If you write on the wall you'll get in trouble."

She pauses, "You're a rotten liar. I need my work. If I don't... the voices... they're always there. All of them. Even yours. I can't barely hear you," she stares at me, "You don't understand!" she hurls the charcoal across the room, where it shatters against the wall, She cries again, laying down, hands over her ears, "I don't exist, I don't exist, I don't exist, I don't exist, Now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can't fly, doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want. Now that we got that clear doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I feel."

"Frankie!" Rikki snapped, "I need you to be quiet so I can think!"

Frankie narrowed her eyes, then giggled nervously, "Fevrale dostat chernil i plakat, Pisat O Fevrale navsnryd, Poka grohochushaya slyakot, Vesnoyu charnoyu gorit."

"What the hell did she just say?" asked Al.

"It's an except from a Russian poem that was used in a song by Regina Spektor. She's one of Frankie's favorite singers," I calmly explained, rubbing her shoulder.

She roughly twisted a lock of hair between her fingers, "I gotta get me outta here, this room is full o' dirty old men. 'N the navigators wif their mappy maps. And the moldy heads 'n pissin' on sugar cubes," her eyes roam the room, and the people who stand around discussing her, and what to do with her, and with the mission in general, "While you stare at your boots, and the words flow out like holograms. And the words flow out like holograms. And the words flow out like holograms. They say, feel the waltz. Feel the waltz. Feel the waltz..."


	22. Relearning The World

AHK'S POV

I look nervously at Frankie. Will she be like this forever? Will she forever be babbling on in lyrical nonsense terms, under her breath, and bursting into tears as her mind expands past itself?

She stopped suddenly, mid-recital of The Jabberwocky poem, and began to touch my face. She ran her fingertips over my cheeks, and eyes and lips, "Don't worry about me, Ahkie. I'll take care o' myself, if I don' get better."

I can't stand it. She shouldn't be worrying about being a burden to me, not at a time like this.

'But I do,' she whispered into my mind.

"How are you doing this?" I asked, aloud.

'I can do that, Ahk.'

"You seem calmer now..."

'Because I don' want you worryin' 'bout me. I don' wanna cry. When I cry, you get upset... I don' want you to be upset anymore...'

She was keeping herself together for my benefit.

I wished I could see her mind the way she could see mine. I wanted to know how much she was holding back from me. Her eyes glisten, but her tears won't fall.

She began to pace around the room, with her shoulder pressed to the wall, like when she was drunk. But she muttered under her breath as she walked, "I am the yellow wall paper..." she giggled nervously.

I didn't know what to say or do, because this is not an instance that I was used to. I'm not used to watching the woman I love becoming a super genius.

"Frankie," Rikki took her hands, and takes her away from the wall, "I need you to answer a few questions. Do you think you can do that?"

"Do not speak to me as if I am a child," Frankie said, anxiously.

"Well, what exactly did Set do?" Rikki said, in the same demeaning tone.

"DON'T SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Frankie shrieked, knocking her head against the wall over and over.

"Frankie..." I start slowly towards her.

"Was..." she whispered, "He took up into his hand the scepter of Was. And he pressed it to my brow. He made me like him, but not. More like poor Horus. Nice fella, he." she rambled on, "Wouldn't it be nice to be Dorian Gray? Just for a day?" she ran her fingers gently over the wall.

"Is she going to be alright?" Haldane asked.

"I don't know," Rikki admitted.

"What exactly is wrong with her?" asked Larry.

"Her mind is containing too much power at once, and she isn't used to it."

Frankie let out a godawful scream that echoed through the room, and she fell to her knees, "No no no no NO! I don't want to! T'isn't decent... Nice beasts.. Won't kill them..."

"What's she babbling about now?" asked one of younger Capone's associates, rather rudely, earning them a smack upside the back of his head.

"He set the trap. He let a wolf among the sheep..." Frankie said, desperately to me, looking for someone to understand, "He wants me to kill you all. I don't want to..." she was shaking.

I wrapped my arms around her to try to still her. She stared at me, mumbling so soft I couldn't hear her. She touched my face gently, yet almost hesitantly.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

'I'm focusing on you,' she thought into my mind, 'to block out the voices... Touching helps.'

She leaned her head against my shoulder and stared up at me.

I kissed her forehead, but her skin burned my lips. Her entire body was burning hot. She tried to smile. She dropped her head to her head to my lap, and ran her fingers over my denim trousers. She curled her body up into a ball, as she did this. I stroked her hair, because it was the only way I could think of to try to calm her mind in some minor way.

"He is himself..." she whispered, "not a shade of him created by a theoretically secular being..."

With in half an hour, I've given up on trying to understand her. The fact of this sorta disappoints me.I want to understand her, but I know for a fact that I most likely will never understand what is happening to her.

Rikki kneeled in front of Frankie, "Frankie, we need to ask you a few questions."

"I don't wanna answer them..." Frankie said, tears in her voice.

"You have to-"

"I don' wanna... I don' wanna... Minds filled with lies, words on pages..."

"Leave her alone," I said.

"She knows more than she's said," Rikki said.

"And who doesn't?" Frankie snapped, "We can't say everything we know. There isn't the time for it. I don't know why he makes us do these things. He wants power, and he wants me to kill you, and that's all I c'n speak to... I won't kill him... Stop asking me to. I won't... Like Ahk far too much to terminate their existence..."

"Well, thanks," said one of the Marines sarcastically.

"Bill Leyden, I have not killed you yet, so one should assume that I approve of your existence..." she let out a small groan, rubbing her temples, "my head... I have need of air..." She started to raise, "Ahk, please come wiv me."

"You aren't going anywhere until we sort this all out," Rikki said quickly.

"Don't try to stop me. I wish to be allowed to leave now. I am aware there is a sliver of genuine concern for my safety somewhere in your mind, so send Gallucio with us as well, it will kill two of your birds with a single stone..."

I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but Rikki's face went pale, "Hold your tongue."

"She wants to take away christmas..." Frankie whispered to me, "She doesn't like it. She wants to take away the presents and replace them with lumps of coal."  
Rikki rolled her eyes, "Go, back Gallucio with you..."

"See?" frankie whispered again, "I told you so..." she took my hand, and tugged me along after her. Passing gallucio, her other hand took his, "Come along, Frank, we're gonna have an adventure!"

"I think I've had enough adventure for one day, if it's all the same," the large man said, partly joking, I think. But, while he stayed with us, he hung back a way.

Frankie seems to be relearning things in this museum, for every few minutes she would stop and look at something in awe, then moved on. She liked to touch things. She touched statues, and stuck her head in to paintings.

A few times she would snatch my hand and jammer on about some minor detail I had not noticed, but now felt stupid for not noticing.

Then suddenly she stopped, "Ahk, d'you think I'm a freak?"

"No."

"I don't believe you," she smiled.

"You're definately different, but that doesn't make you a freak."

"I think difference of person is the general definition of a freak..."

I put a hand to her shoulder and kiss the top of her head, "I love you."

"I think you should stop..."

"Why?" I ask concerned.

"I get this feeling like I'm going to hurt you. I don't know when or why... I just know I might."

"You won't."

"You don' know that for sure," she was shaking again. I wasn't sure what to do. She was going to breakdown again.

I wrap my arms around her and rock her to try to calm her mind in what little way I could think of.

She shook nervously in my arms.

"Gallucio, help me take her back," I ask.

The large man came over and scooped her up in his arms, and began back from where we had come. A few times she had beat against his chest, and shrieked, but for the most part she just shook.

I almost ask him to put her down, but I don't know if I even know what to do anymore.


	23. Travis

**AN Sorry, this took so long. I'm home now so I can update more quickly. Please R&R.**

RIKKI'S POV

They brought Frankie back, as hysteric as she had been during this whole ordeal.

"I told you it was a bad idea," I said, "but you wouldn't listen! I told you she wasn't ready to be out there the way she is!"

Ahk looked at me, "Is it really so important to you to get to say 'I told you so?'! I hardly think this is the time for it!"

I felt my eyes narrow at him, "I've called George. He'll be here soon to fix this whole mess. You should leave before he gets here in..." I glance at my watch.

"Four point six eight minutes," Frankie muttered.

I glanced back to Ahkmenrah, "I think it would be best if you weren't here when George arrived."

"Why should I leave her alone?" Ahk demanded, "If there's gonna be more people tampering with her mind I think-"

"It doesn't very much matter what you think, Ahk!" I snapped, "George is exceptionally protective of his daughter! You're her boyfriend, and there's really only one way this can play out. It involves your girlfriend's father making sure you aren't around to sully the potential purity of his daughter!"

"The bar for the potential has been set very low to the ground... Children play hopscotch over the bar... Double dutch on the concrete..." Frankie twisted a lock of her hair between her fingers.

"Why would he want me not to be around?" Ahk asked, clearly unsure of what ends a father would go to be keep his daughter as innocent as he wants her to be.

"I think it's just best if you aren't here when George comes. He isn't expecting his daughter to be with anyone, and, if it's all the same to you, I would really rather not be there when the illusions he holds dear about his little girl are shattered."

Al tugged Ahkmenrah's sleeve, "Come on, man."

Ahkmenrah let himself be dragged away.

A few minutes later the man came to fix Frankie. But he wasn't George. It was strange because there was something familiar about him, and he seemed to know Frankie, even though she seemed over all confused about who he was. He was a remarkably attractive man in his early twenties with auburn hair, and a wide build. I mean wide.

"Um, excuse me... Who are you?"

"My name is Travis. George called me to deal with this little mix up. Hey, Kara..." he stroked her face with a tenderness that seemed almost paternal.

"Very well, thank you," Kara forced the words out, like she wanted to be polite even though she didn't care.

Travis smiled and took a carton of salt from his bag and made rings around her with the salt, muttering under his breath. Once the rings were done, he began to softly chant a spell that I didn't know.

The rings began to glow, and hum with the spell's energy. They came in around Frankie, closing in, and wrapped around her. They seeped into her and she made not a sound, or any sort of physical indication that anything was happening, but the anxiety in her eyes mellowed and dissipated.

The rings of salt were scorched, and burned into the floor.

Frankie stared at each of us, not quite smiling, "it's quiet now..."

She looked cautiously at Travis, "Who are you exactly? I missed it in all the noise."

He smiled, his entire face becoming so boyish that it contrasted the muscles and the plug in his ear, "You really don't recognize me?"

"Don't take it personally, this's been happening a lot lately," Frankie narrowed her eyes.

He reached into his back pocket and brought out his credentials. Frankie opened them and skimmed, "Alright, you're an emergency respondant for Ibsid... Trav..." she paused, "Travis Maclauglin?"

He grinned wider, "Hey, Cuz."

Frankie lept at the man and embraced him. There was the sound of a throat being cleared. Ahk stood there nervously, "Is this another one of your... One night lovers?"

Frankie rolled her eyes, smiling. She wrapped an arm around Ahk's, "Naw, sweetie, this's my cousin, Travis."

Travis extended a hand out to the Pharaoh who blushed at his mistake, "My apologies, sir."

The man scoffed laughingly, "No worries. It's an honest enough of a mistake to make. George sent me to handle this whole debacle. Which reminds me, Kara, George's seen you right?"

"Yeah."

"You seen his file on you?"

"Yeah?"

"He didn't show you everything. He knows you worked for Uncle Paul..."

Frankie went pale, and shallowed, "he didn't say anything about that..."

"He wouldn't would he?"

Ahk looked between the two of them, "Is there something the matter?"

"Um, nothing..." Frankie said, not looking at him, "Just some stuff I wouldn'ta liked Pops to know' s all..."

"No one judged you for it, ya know..." Travis said.

I could practically see Ahk catalog the question for later.

"I have to go, alright?" Travis said, hugging Frankie.

"Call me, alright?" Frankie said, kissing his cheek, and he left through the door.

"So... Does he have a girlfriend?" Riley asked.

Frankie chuckled, "He's not fer you, kid. Alright... Artemis should get here tomorrow night. Until then, we best get outta sight."

This time there was no offer of rooms. Al didn't even go to the photo. We found cots down in the archives, and that was good enough for us.


	24. Our Family Relationships Suck

FRANKIE'S POV

We all walked down into the archives to these cots where we would sleep. Ahk walked by my side, and I dragged my feet.

We passed a nighttime painting of a city. I snatched Ahk by the hand and dragged him into the frame, without the notice of anyone.

"What are you doing?" Ahk asked, alarmed.

I didn't give a responce until minutes of pestering yeilded the almost agrigated hiss of "hush up, silly face."

"Silly face?"

I knew where we were. Paris 1859, if I was correct. I pulled him along to a small hostle, and marched to the front desk, "Je voudrais une chamber pour la nuit pour moi et mon mari, sil vous plait. Combien?(I would like a room for the night for myself and my husband, please. How much?)"

"25 francs," said the round inn keeper, not even looking up from the newspaper on the desk.

I slid the coins across the desk. He tossed a key by the coins that he scooped into the drawer, as he instructed us on the path to the vacant room.

It was a bare room. Small, but sufficiant.

Ahk still looked perplexed, but less so, "Frankie... what's going on?"

"we're goin' into the battle tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yes..."

"If I die... I want to know I spent this time with the man that I love," I came nearer to him, "I love you, Ahkmenrah."

He backed

"Do you not love me now that you know wha' I am?"

"I love you, but you could have told me what you were up to," he moved back to me, touching my face.

I tugged him by his arm over to the simple futon by the wall, and lay down with him next to me under the covers. He was sweet as ever, and I so enjoyed it. I rested my head on his chest, and my fingers moved on his skin. He kissed my forehead and wrapped his arms around me.

"we're gunna be alright, Ahk."

He stroked my back, "Of course we will be," he said, but I could tell he didn't really believe it, entirely. I'm not sure that I was either. My fingers and his intertwined and twisted together on the sheet top. My head lolled to the side and felt heavy.

AHKMENRAH'S POV

I liked watching her sleep. It made me feel better about what was to happen when the alarm on Frankie's phone went off. I say almost because it also made me more nervous. I had more at risk than everyone else in our group.

Sacajawea had a lover of her own at risk, but not the same risk. Not the same fear. I knew what Set would do to Frankie.

He had made it clear to me.

I would not let him have her.

The weight of her made the risk of losing her all the more real to me. I was in danger as well. Set would spare neither of us any pains.

She snuggled nearer to me in her sleep, and I wanted more than anything to never leave this place. And for the first time in millenia I gave into real sleep.

FRANKIE'S POV

My sleep was not a good one. Though I knew, as we all did, that Set would not act during the day, as his forces were immobilized. But he could still do everything he could do by his own power. One such thing was to enter the dreams of his enemies.

He stood before me in the room, at first with his animal head, then the form I knew. I pulled the covers over my chest and glared at him.

"Hello, Kara. Where are we? Monmarte?"

"What do you want?"

"Well, you have a stronger will that I thought, but," he sighed, "it's of no matter, as you will be mine again in a matter of time. What little battle are they preparing?" Set waved a hand and a chair materialized as he made to sit.

"We will defeat you."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

It was strange to hear him say that, and I was sure I had misheard.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Honestly, I do this more for amusement than anything. But ever since that little earthquake I started in San Francisco back in 1906..." he smiled at the memory, "the other gods have been so... righteous with me. 'Set don't eat Bes's nachos! Set, don't make old ladies trip! Set, don't inspire genocide!' I mean they really just don't get me!"

"You poor baby," I said sarcastically.

Set chuckled, "Kara, you of all people can not act righteous. You're more like me than you are like him," Set jerked his chin at Ahk's sleeping mass, "You play the innocent so very well, but we know its not the case."

"I'm a better person than you think."

"No. Only better than I say, and not by much," he smirked.

"What're you doin here?"

"Trying to convince you to give up on your hopes of glory."

"I want no glory."

He scoffed, and continued, "we both know who must strike the final blow, and your lover is a far cry from a warrior, Horus is hardly able to look at me in his state, so unless you have another pharaoh lying about somewhere, you're putting your own lover on the frontline, and even for you that is harsh."

"I don' need you actin' as my moral compass, Set."

"Just food for thought, child," Set rose and cast a glance at Ahk, with almost a glimmer of shame in his eyes. I remembered in that look that they were family. Set was Ahk's great (times gods know what) uncle.

Between the two of us, Ahk and me, our family relationships sucked... 


	25. Interesting Introductions Initiate

**AN This chapter's shorter than I wanted it to be, but I wanted to get it up. Its not wholey done though, so it will have to continue in the next chapter.**

**I borrowed Neil Gaiman's portrayal of Horus to use.**

**In case you don't know, a Khopesh is the name for the curved blade Kahmunrah uses in Battle of the Smithsonian. It was the general sword used in Ancient Egypt, usually by the noblity. **

A blaring sound of alarm bells awoke me from my sleep. I lay back, groaning, "Five more minutes."

"Wake up. You can't sleep in this time," Ahk said softly.

"But I was sleeping," I grumbled.

He released a sigh, and rose from the futon. I squinted at him in the light, as he dressed. His clothes looked wrinkled on his body. He stretched his arms high above his head.

I sat up slowly and dressed myself. I didn't really want to, because that would be admitting we had to leave. It was a confession that I wasn't quite ready to make.

Ahk stood quietly by, "Are you ready to go?"

"Are you?"

His smile faltered only slightly, "As I will ever be."

I took his hand in mine and walked from the painting entirely.

AHKMENRAH'S POV

We waited for our allies at the appointed meeting place in the archives.

It was agreed that I was in need of some sort of martial preparation, and it had been left up to Frankie to see to it.

It was not going well, and the worse it went the more apparent Frankie's unrest became.

There was always between Frankie and I, an understanding that while I had in my life received a minor level of training, she would always be able to beat me in a physical dispute, but this had never been put to any test, until now.

She had been going easy on me, and she seemed rather troubled by the amount of times that I had landed flat on my back. Frankie would help me back up and give me some piece of advice, and then there was Rikki's constantly repeated word of, "again". But eventually they all gave up and said that if they kept up my training like this, I would be too exhausted to put up any defense.

"I fear I'm not much good without a khopesh."

I would have to make do with a short, straight blade we'd found lying about, and I did the best with it that I could. But it worked differently than the weapon I had been taught to fight with as a child.

I was not prepared.

Frankie didn't say anything, but I could tell she was somehow disappointed, but more than that she was worried. When we stopped, she said, "You'd better take a rest. You'll need all the energy ya c'n muster."

And she was right. I needed all my energy for what would meet us.

x0x0x0x

The first thing I really registered was a lean naked man who grinned at Frankie and embraced her. His smile exaggereated the ragger scars around one of the man's eyes. His eyes were mismated, one was amber, the other was grey.

"I am so glad to see you, Kara!" exclaimed the man in an voice accented in a way that surprised me. It was an accent I hadn't heard from any mouth but my own in thousands of years.

"And I you... but what did we talk about last time, Horus?" Frankie asked in the way you would ask a child, "Where are your pants?"

"I do not need them," Horus said defiantly.

"'Course not, but ya might make other people uncomfy, with yer lack of trouser..."

"I'm tooo manly for their insecurities to handle," Horus said proudly.

"Sure... please put on some pants?"

"Should I be nervous that she's had to ask twice?" asked TM to me.

Horus's eyes narrowed then he relaxed, "Only for you, my dear friend."

"Thank you."

Suddenly it seemed that Horus was wearing a pair of baggy cotton shorts, but he sulked, "It is better to be as one is born..."

"Yes, I know, but as for right now it isn't socially acceptable."

"It's foolish..." Horus caught sight of me and let out a cry of surprise, "Ahkmenrah! Hullo, my lad!"

He embraced me and I wasn't sure what my reaction should be. The strange man embracing me could not be the warrior god that it was claimed was my ancestor. It simply couldn't be...

"Horus let the boy go," sighed a young man, near Horus and myself in age, I think. He was slender, not the lean muscular build that Horus had, but an unathletic skinniness. His dark hair was roughly cut, and looked as if he hadn't gotten much sleep or expossure to sunlight. He dressed in clothes found in th emodern western world, all dark in color. When he smiled, he struck me as rather similar looking to a wild dog, "Hello, cousin."

"Cousin?" I asked unsure.

"Anubis," Frankie shook his hand, "How's Hades?"

Anubis's dark eyes narrowed dangerously, "the man is insufferable." He claims he has more souls under his watch and so he is a better funery god. It's simply because he allows the wicked souls to live on rather than terminating their existence."

"And Ammet?"

"He's well fed," Anubis smirked

"I miss that silly face." Frankie looked reminiscant, scanning the others Artemis had brought/ She introduced them to me, one by one, and was mildly flustered at some introductions that she had to make.


	26. To Girl Fight, or Not To Girl Fight?

**AN I've been able to cast a few of the parts in this chapter, but not all of them, sorry.**

**Thor: ChrisHemsworth (because he is awesome)**

**Ganesha: Dev Patel**

**Thoth: Ron Glass**

**Kokolimalayas: Gary Paul Davis**

There were seven beings total, that Artemis had brought with her.

Anubis and Horus I have already explained.

There was a broad, and very handsome man in his mid to late twenties. His golden hair hung to his shoulders and he made Frankie seem on edge. She called him Thor, and said not much else about it. In his broad hand was a battle hammer.

Then there was Ganesha, an Indian man with his front bottom teeth were missing, which explained why his people had given his person the visage of an elephant in his myths. he seemed a whiney youth, as if he had been pampered an coddled, and didn't like having to leave the comfort of his couch.

A very young and pretty faced boy with dark curls, quick eyes, and converse tennis shoes that had on them a hidden pair of wings, apparently had a great deal of respect and admiration from Frankie who bowed to him as she said his name, "Hermes." He was the patron god of theives and travelers, and I understood at once Frankie's reverance.

Near Anubis was a middle aged man with a wild mass of hair that was like the scientist, Albert Einstein. His skin was a light mahogany color. he seemed twitchy and sent constant glares at Hermes, because he had been confused by the Greeks as the young god. I felt at once as if I knew him. Thoth.

The last was a man that seemed neither thin nor thick, and yet both. he was like an optical illusion. He was a Native American man with a shaved head and very pale skin. His were all black, but his clothes where the pale white of his skin. Frankie called him Kokolimalayas. "He was what the Modos people told their children would get them if they didn't behave."

"Ah, those were the days. Now, children respect nothing," Kokolimalayas rolled his eyes in aggravation.

The seven being, though they saved face seemed somehow unnerved to all be in the same place. It was, by seeing them all together, a safe assumption that they didn't get along. There was probably a reason that they kept so closely to their own kin and territories.

"Alright," Rikki began, "I assume you all know why we're here..."

"I didn't really mention it," Artemis corrected.

"LIke, at all?" Larry asked.

Artemis glared at him, "No."

"Alright... well," TM said, in a calming voice, "Basically, Set's gotten out of prison and is looking to take over the world, and we need to put him back."

"Set?" demanded Horus in a terrified voice.

"How did he get out?" Ganesha demanded.

"There was a mix up with-" Larry began to explain, but we didn't have time for sugared words.

"Kahumunrah released him when he tried to free his army from the after life," I said quickly, with no shame.

"You sell your brother out quickly," Thoth mused.

"I'm being honest. Set escaped and Kahmunrah is to blame."

"We won't meet with him again!" Horus said quickly.

"Calm down," Thor sighed, bored.

"You don't tell us how to react! We didn't carve out our own eye! We didn't do the unspeakable thing to ourselves..."

"No one says you did, but yelling about it doesn't make it any better."

Horus' bottom lip quivered. Frankie went over and put her arms around Horus, rubbing his back, "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"We don't!"

"I know."

"He's a bad man."

"I'm aware."

"He... he touched you."

"Yes."

"He made you like me."

"Sorta... for a while... If you don't want to do this, you can go home. The same goes for all of you. We won't have anyone forced."

Horus nodded. Then he was naked again, leading to more than a few groans and protests. He turned into a falcon and flew away.

"Why, sister didn't you tell us what we marched towards?" Hermes asked, "We march to our own deaths without so much as a prior warning."

"We walk to glory, brother," Artemis said, eyes gleaming with something joy.

"Oh..." Frankie said, in a down cast voice, "Arty, yer not roight in th' head, is you?"

Artemis's head swivled and she glared at Frankie, and moved very close to her, "Shut your dirty mouth, whore."

Frankie slapped Artemis across the face.

Artemis stared at her with wide eyes, her hand over her cheek. The two women stared at each other, so full of hate.

"Is this to evolve into a girl fight?" Ganesha asked Thor, in a hushed voice.

"I don't know but I'm texting all my bros anyhow," Thor replied tapping away on his phone.

Later I would find out that more than a few men standing by were praying for a girl fight, and that Floyd had sat there with his fingers crossed, pray the following, "Dear god above, if I am to die tonight, I will go willingly if there is to be a brawl betwixt these janes..."

The two stubborn souls stared for over a minute, unaware of the words and desires passing about them. It took a while for me to realize they were arguing with their minds, privately.

Finally a spoken sentence came from Artemis, "Do not call upon me to aid you ever again."

"I won't," Frankie responded.

Artemis stiffened further before she faded and disappeared, to further groans, but this time of disappointment. Floyd kicked a wall in fury.

Frankie looked confused, but carried on, "Alright, we're down anoth'r deity, and our honest hope is that Ahkmenrah here will be able to defeat Set in battle. The odds of Set bein' defeated're lower if it's a family member of Horus, which Ahk is becoz he's Pharaoh."

Thor laughed, "So the fate of the world rests on so narrow a pair of shoulders as these?"

My eyes narrowed, but I had no defense.

"Not everyone c'n spend their whole lives in a gym, Thor."

Thor smiled at Frankie far too farmiliarly, "You have indeed kept you tongue sharp."

"Are you surprised?"

He smirked.

I was aware of Frankie's discomfort, that only confirmed my fears.

They had history. Frankie and Thor... Frankie and Artemis... It all made my stomach sick just to think of it. I hated thinking of her with anyone else. I didn't want to be around anyone that she had ever had feelings for, especially men. I wanted to walk her away from him, and make sure that it was understood that she was mine.

I didn't want her around them, because it was my fear that she would go back to them now that she could fully enjoy whatever relations they had once had. What if she was curious of it?

But she remained stern, "Go prepare for battle, Thor. Let me worry about him." she tugged my arm,  
"Come along, Ahkie."


	27. Gruesome Wrapping Paper

**AN A shorter chapter than the last one. Sorry. Please Review.**

**Hermes: Andrew Garfield**

**Anubis: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (I don't know why, but this is whole I keep thinking of...)**

Anubis approached us, "Pharaoh," he bowed his pale head, in an almost satirical way.

"Oh, hello," I said mildly nervous of Anubis. There was nothing in my cultures myths that created this nervousness, per se. It was just something about his sharp smile that reminded me of a wild dog. His teeth were sharp as a jackals and he seemed always silent, even when he spoke aloud.

The funery god smiled again at me, "I have something for you, cousin."

"You do?" was he cross with me that I had not remained dead?

He pulled from no where a bundle wrapped in linen strips. Anubis might have blushed, I think, if he was the sort, "Don't mind the wrappings... there's not much else laying around at my disposal."

"Are these from..?" I started, but couldn't go on.

"A mummy? Yeah," Anubis smilrked.

"It's funery linen," I said, with an enthusiasism, compelled from my person by some uneasy sort of mixture of disgust, and uncertainty, and a false smile at Frankie.

Frankie smiled, but peered curiously at the bundle I now held.

The linen fell away in my hands to reveal an item that I had once known, but had lost all hope of ever seeing again, "How?" I asked.

"He had it with him when he came to the Hall of Judgement."

I held the thing in my hand, "This is my father's khopesh..." My eyes met Anubis's, "Thank you," I hesitated, but embraced him.

"I thought you might want it, so did your father."

I swallowed back the emotions I suddenly felt, "I apologize."

"For what?"

"I wasn't sure you were..."

"What? Good? Because I'm a Death God?"

"Yeah... and because Set's your father..."

"I hate that man. He cast me out when I was a child. Why would you think I would side with him? No Khopesh for you!" he snatched the blade from my hands.

"No!"

Anubis smiled wolfishly, chuckling. He tossed me the blade, like he was returning a toy, "I hope you kill my father."

"Oh... really?" Frankie asked.

"Yes. I'll help you in every way I can," swore the young god, "I will go into battle at your side if you wish it."

"Thank you. I see you as my brother, not my cousin," I smiled at him.

Anubis placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, smiling.

"Oh, gods, you guys are cheesy," Frankie said in her way.

We both looked at her, and I knew she was partially right, and I felt embarrassed. But she was smiling and she kissed my cheek and said, "I'll leave you fellas to it."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I need to prep," she said. I wasn't sure what that meant until I saw her later.


	28. On The Other Hand

**AN: Short chapter, may disconnected. I rushed it, I know. So you should review and let me know what you think.**

**On a different note, there's and Al Capone Biopic in the works, with Tom Hardy playing Capone. I am not sure at the moment how I feel about this, but I will update you as i find things out.**

Frankie came back later, nothing upon her by way of armor, save a pair of leather shoulder pads and shin guards. Her hands were wrapped in linen strips to protect them. The armor seemed thin, flexible, and insubstantial, though Frankie swore by it. It was dark, mating with her clothing. Her batons were in their harnesses at her back, but there was something new. Strapped to her thigh was a small, thick black wooden cylinder, about six inches long, and maybe an inch around.

"What's this?" I asked.

She smiled gently, pulling the thing from her thigh, "Heqat," she said low, and the thing extended into a staff, "l'mun," it shrunk back and she returned it to its place.

She smiles again and takes my hand in hers, "I believe in ya."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I believe in ya th' same way I believe in all these gods, 'n more, in fact. More than believe in ya, I have faith in ya," she said, touching my face, "We'll succeed for we're righteous."

"Frankie-"

"I'll give my life for ya if I have to," her eyes shone.

"That's not what I want."

"If we fail, I won't want to live. It seems a good 'nough cause to die for."

I didn't understand and she could tell.

"To die for one's god is not such a terrible way to die..."

"You don't worship me."

"I do... in th' only way I know how," she touches my chest, "I'm sorry if I was ever-"

I kiss her to quiet her, "You were never anything I didn't love," I held her chin between my fingers and thumb, "Bah, why are we talking like this? This won't be goodbye! We'll both be right as a trivet tomorrow."

Frankie gave out a tearfully joyous cry and flung her arms around me, and clung to me for dear life, "I love you , Ahkmenrah!" she said in my ear.

I kissed her forehead.

Around us, people knew what they were going into, and didn't want to say anything, or jinx their luck. Riley stood by Clyde, sporting some sort of Viking helmet with a face mask. Clyde pushed the visor from Riley's face, and then let it drop in back in place. Riley granted him an obscene hand gesture for his work.

Young Capone sat on a crate, his grey fingers tightened around the gun in his hands.

"Are you planning to paint the town red, Capone?" Rikki asked with a knowing smile.

"Hey! You know that whole where you put pie? Shut it!" he snarled.

"Why do I feel like there's a story there that I'd wanna hear if t'were any other time?" Frankie asked.

There was a look between Capone and Rikki, then Capone got up and walked away, "Lemm know before we go," he muttered under his breath.

AL'S POV

Dreslin was gonna say something and I didn't wanna be there when she did. Apparently neither did old me.

"What did you do?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific than that," I scoffed.

"You and Frankie. What did you do?" he looked unamused.

"_I_ did nothing. _She_ did. So go scold her."

"What did she do?"

"What makes you so sure anything even happened anyway?" I asked, knowing full well it was too late to try that.

"You really think I don't know you by now? I am you. You did something stupid that resulted in Rikki having a good story about, and you left. You don't mind being the butt of jokes unless there's something on, specially if there's something on with a jane. I want to know what it is."

I told myself what had happened that night, somewhat hesitantly.

"And she remembers?"

"I guess..." She hadn't actually said anything else on the matter.

"And I presume we are now infatuated..." the lardy one mused.

"We are not infatuated," I groaned, "Why can't you believe me when I say I have no interest in this jane beyond friendship?"

"Because I'm not an idiot. I know what you're like. Leave. Her. Alone."

He walked away and I screwed up my face after him, "Leave. Her. Alone," I mimiced. What an idiot.

Frankie looked over in my direction and smiled politely.

On the other hand...


	29. Never Battle Angry At Each Other

**AN Another perhaps strange, out of place chapter. This story's been harder to put together than my other ones. I've had a lot of ideas, and some of them just couldn't be put in here, or this might've gone on forever. Unless that's what was wanted, but once more, I'm functioning on the bare minimum of reviews, so frankly, I have no idea what you guys want.**

**However I must give warning that if you are not particularly partial to arguments over religious persecution, you might not be the biggest fan of this chapter, in fact I'm not exactly sure I like it so much, but another part of Frankie's family history is revealed.**

FRANKIE'S POV

Our army marched on the Museum of Industry where Set waited, his own army standing before us waiting in the lobby. Ahk, Anubis, Rikki, Riley, TM, Larry, and I stood at the front of the army. I stood at Ahk's right, and Anubis at his left.

The God himself stood at the very back of his army.

Kahmunrah smirked at his younger brother, "I see you've brought your hebrew whore."

"She is not a hebrew, nor is she a whore!" Ahk spat back.

"Ehn..." I said.

"Ehn?" asked Ahk.

"I mean, I'm not a whore, so much, nor m'I a hebrew... per se..."

"Per se?" Ahk asked, completely distracted by now, "Kara, you're not hebrew are you?"

"Does it matter so very much?"

"No... but if you were, I'd like to think I'd know about it."

"It really wasn't something to dwell on-" Kahmunrah started.

"Hush a minute," Ahk said, dismissing Kahmunrah's protest, waving a hand at him, "Are you?"

"My father's jewish," I said, "And that sorta translates in yer understanding to bein' a hebrew... Why does this even matter?"

"Really, I think he was just-" started Larry.

Ahk's hand waving stopped Larry as well, "I think it's just very interesting that you withheld this sort of thing from me."

"I didn't withhold it. It just never came up."

Rikki sighed, annoyed.

"I asked you over a year ago if you were of any faith. You lied."

"Kahmunrah opened his mouth, but I rose a hand at him, not looking in his direction, "I didn't lie! My father and his family is jewish, my mother and her family is Greek Orthodox. I ain't a practitioner of either faith, so I didn't lie."

"How else would it have come up?"

Kahmunrah shot a look back at Set, pleadingly as if asking permission to break this up, but Set waved him off. His look saying, "I want to see how this goes." He seemed amused.

"Why is this so important to you?"

"It's not... it's just... you're a hebrew... I'm a Pharaoh.."

I pause in confusion, "The hebrews weren't held in mass bondage in Egypt until a few hundred years after your reign..."

"It's not that. Really! It was just a thought..."

"So, wait, I can be the descendant of the Greeks who took over yer country 'n basically butt-fucked," I hip-thrusted for full effect, "you bloodline 'n claimed it as their own, but me bein' the daughter of a descendant of someone who has the same religion as slaves kept in your country centuries after you died is jus' unacceptable!"

"I _never_ said that!"

"You can't yet know _everythin_' 'bout me, Ahk! There's a lot I don' know 'bout you!"

"It makes sense when you say it like that..." he looked embarrassed.

"Why do you sound surprised? Becoz I'm a hebrew? R'we only capable of buildin' pyramids 'n crap like that? Is that what it's gonna take to get this relationship to work?"

"The pyramids were built using free labor, which kept the economy-"

"I know that!" I snapped.

"You know we can just reschedule this if now isn't good for you," Kahmunrah said, annoyed.

"Will you calm yo' tits!" I demanded, then let out a sigh, "Ok, look there's something that most couples have agreed on over time and that's that we should never go into battle angry at each other-"

"I'm pretty sure it's that you shouldn't go to bed angry at each other," Larry said.

"Same difference! So I'm sorry."

"As am I," Ahk smiled, "And I accept you."

"About damn time," Rikki scoffed.

"Thank you!" Kahmunrah said, over dramatic, as usual.

Ahk looked at his brother, then punched him so hard that Kahmunrah toppled to the ground. Ahk shrugged, "Had to be done."

"You're gettin' really good at that," I mused as the enemy army charged towards us.

He smiled nervously as a Japanese soldier charged towards us, bayonette fixed. I swung a baton, taking out the man's knee cap. Down he too went, and the fray swarmed about us.


	30. The Cancerous Feeling

The Battle plan was more or less very simple. Easy to remember, you know? Basically, Anubis and I were to stay near Ahk, make sure he gets to Set and operate as his back up. Seems pretty easy, right?

Well, anyway, it was pretty early on that this genius plan, that we realized it wouldn't actually work out, because well, none of our plans ever really work. Staying close to a person is difficult in the middle of one of the most epic battles in history. We were facing some of the most evil people in all of history. There were so many people, and they rarely discuss this, but it's actually tough to discern your people from your enemies, when there's no real uniform. You have to actually focus, and take things in very quickly.

The opposite army so greatly unnumbered us that I faced several men at once. There was a man so large that it was actually frightening. He wore a uniform that looked to be Philistine. For a moment I stood there slack jawed but, only for that moment. Then I went to strike him, only to be lifted over his head and thrown through a wall.

"Always at the walls," I groaned, never outside, or towards a trampoline. Always to the wall."

I pulled myself back out and charged at him, staff at the ready. I would be sure to take him down. He might have been large, but I was quicker than he was. "Petrificus Totalus!" I yelled, whacking his brow. But instead of completely freezing him, his face just suffered a minor bought of paralysis.

Goliath swung at me left and right, so I climbed up his arm, and flung myself over his shoulder and got one of my batons at his throat, and I pulled as hard as I could, choking him. He slammed me repetitively, trying to get me off his back. I managed to hold on. When he finally passed out, because this is my life we're talking about, when he collapsed on top of me. It took me five whole minutes to get this fat-ass m-fer off me. You may think I've been swearing too much, but you know what, I've got a potty mouth, and that's my deal so accept it or get out.

Sorry… that was weird, but I'm especially pissed about this memory because… well, if you've ever been stuck under a five hundred pound bastard you understand what the deal is.

Then there were the agents of Bloody Mary Tudor, who, knowing I was of Jewish decent, decided I was to be neutralized, because the lord willed it. Like she really wanted my head.

These two homicidal maniacs are chasing me down because their queen was pointing at me and yelling. I ended up corned against the base of one of the columns, having eliminated the other one. The agent that's living steps hard on my throat. He leaned over me, hand on his sword, ready to end me, "Would you like to confess your pagan ways unto the ear of the lord?"

"I'm good," I grunted, trying to grasp the pressure point behind his knee, but failing, "How 'bout you?"

"He is the lord!" the nameless agent snarled, and frankly, I have no clue what he was talking about.

Al swiped behind him with a baseball bat and whacked him upside the back of his head. He fell, and didn't move, but Al hit him a few more times, for good measure, I guess.

I nodded to him before rushing back into the fray.

I saw from the corner of my eye that Anubis and Ahk were fighting Set in a deadly battle. Set was swiping between the two youths. And they were doing somewhat well for what they were doing.

Set then suddenly, and mercilessly stabbed his khopesh straight through Ahk's chest.

I was aware that I was screaming, but I couldn't make myself stop. I started running. I had to get to Ahk, it didn't matter how I was getting to him. Ahk was slumping against the wall when I finally got to him. I went to hold him, and had him fall into me. There was a strange feeling like I was dreaming. Like, it didn't feel real.

I held him in my arms.

"Kara…"

I held him closer, "Shhh…"

"I love you," he whispered.

I pressed my hand over the wound that is what had been his chest, "You're gonna be fine, Sweetie." My vision was blurred with tears.

"I warned you," Set said, in his condescending way, with some sort of mock disappointment.

I glared at him, "You Bastard!" I screamed. This guy… the son of a bitch…. Ohhh… My hatred grew in my chest like a tumor. A black cancerous tumor that was blinding. That was the only intelligible thought that I could have at the time besides, of course the fact that my lover was dying…


	31. SO Underappreciated

**AN This is another short chapter. It annoys me to have so many short chapters but I'm trying to get as much up as I can in each story.**

Anubis stood there, shocked, staring at his father, then Ahk, then me, then back to Set.

"Come now, my son," Set opened his arms to Anubis.

Ahk's breathing was labored and the look of pain in his face hurt me through to my core. He gasped again in agony. "Shh, shh," I whispered rocking him in my arms, "Yer alright, Sweetie. Yer alright."

Anubis walked slowly to his father, and returned the embrace. I didn't have the time to be surprised, because as Set wraps his arms around his son, Anubis snatched his father's khopesh from the belt, and drove it through him, "I, Anubis, adopted son of Isis, and in that rite, brother of Horus, cast you back into limbo!"

The form that Set had taken shattered and a gust of wind polluted by Set's soul moved toward the gate way. The wind picked up the souls of his soldiers as it went, and they disappeared, until there was not a one left.

I pressed my hand over the wound harder, focusing.

Aa pair of hands took my arms and tried to pull me away from Ahk. It was Rikki, "You do yourself no good with this."

"Lemme go! I c'n help him!" I yelled, pulling.

"Thor, help me with her," Rikki said, and the Norse grasped me and pulled me away from Ahk. I elbowed at Thor to get free, and he released me, somewhat willingly.

"He won't really die!" Rikki said, harshly, but in an apparent attempt to calm me.

"But he's in pain!" I screamed, focusing as hard as I could. A silver light appeared around my fingers where his blood had once been.

I felt suddenly woozy, dizzy, cold, and then, pain. It was sudden and horrible and totally worth it.

Ahk looked at me, his color returning to his face, "What are you doing?" he demanded, though it was apparent that he had his suspictions.

"Saving yer life."

He sat up quickly.

"Be careful, Ahk. Your blood's still returning to your head. Don' rush it there," I smiled, touched by his concern.

"You idiot!" he snapped, "You're risking your life for mine?" he snatched me by my arms.

I pressed my hand hard to my own wound, "It isn't so bad, silly. I'll be fine in a minute."

"I told you not to risk yourself for me!" he said, actually pissed.

I tried to smile, but with the firm, stern glare he was giving me, "Why're you so balled?"

"You could have died just now!"

"But I ain't dead, Ahk, obviously. I heal faster than you do, and pain don't bother me so much, and I shouldn't mind anyway, should I? And I told you that I'd do this anyway didn't I?"

"And didn't I tell you not to?"

I felt somehow let down that Ahk didn't at all appreciate what I'd done. I had saved him from pain, and it didn't matter. I had known we could have put his death body out of sight, and he would have been fine. That wasn't the point. The point was he was hurt, and I took the pain away. Why should I have hesitated to allieviate his pain?

I stood, still dizzy, "Well if yer so upset 'bout it, I'll be sure not to do it again."

I walked away. I will regret it for the rest of my life.

AL'S POV

She stormed past me, wobbling on her feet and still pale, even for her. I followed her with entirely honorable intentions, I swear. Hell, you won't believe me. I don't even know why I try to-

You're going to have to take my word for it. This is how it happened. I was worried about her because she wasn't exactly in the best shape, since she basically was stabbed. she was as likely to get where she was going as she was to fall into one of the seascapes in the art museum she was walking determined into.


	32. It's Not How It Looks Ok It Is Sorta

When I finally caught up to her, she was sitting in an exhibit of Van Gogh, "He's m' favorite, y' know?" she said not even looking up at me, "he's like me. He saw things different than anyone else."

"He really see things like that?" I asked, disbelieving.

"I wouldn' know would I? But he took his pain 'n made it beauty. I c'n admire that..."

My brow furrowed and I tried to make sure she didn't notice that I was trying to waft her breath. Her accent seemed slightly thicker and more slurred.

"Wha's you doin'?" she demanded.

"Have you been drinking?"

"Not yet... I think I got some Crown Royal in here somewhere," she said patting her bag. Her makeup was slightly smeared and looked like it had started to run.

"You should probably not be drinking."

"Yeah... yer prolly right," she stuck her arm deep in to her bag and pulled out the strange looking bottle and opened it, taking a swig from it.

"I'm right, so you drink anyway?"

"Don' pretend t'be surprised," she said, not even wincing at the bitterness of the drink. I could smell it from where I was.

"Did I say I was?"

She smirked, looking back to the painting.

"For all the wonder he gives you, it cost him only his ear, right?"

"No. It was only his ear lobe. He cut it off and gave it to his girl friend, Rachel, who was also a prostitute. He meant it to be a gift, but she fainted and immeadiately broke things off with him.

"Sometimes people just don't understand when you try to do good things for them."

"I feel like we ain't talkin' bout Vincent no more," she said, "Thank you."

"For?"

"You saved me back there. I've not ever thanked you for anythin' you've done fer me in the past."

I shrugged, "It's nothing."

"Nothing but my neck, and everything above it."

"You're my friend. What sorta man would I be if I let you die?"

"Have we always been?"

"Friends?"

"Yeah."

"You mean when you was a kid?" I mulled over it, "I'd say so. In a strange sorta way. I always sorta wanted a daughter, and for a while you were like the next best thing. You have to understand, what I remember is you still being there. I assume eventually your father came back for you, but I don't know when, and frankly sometime I had hoped that George wouldn't come for you at all. You would follow me around a good deal once you felt up to leaving the room. I took you to the opera once. La Bohèmes. You followed it pretty well but you didn't like-"

"The ending. I recall... Mimi's death felt rushed and there's no real resolution..."

"Yeah," I smiled, "At least you can't say I never taught you nothing. Not that you needed my help. You were always pretty bright for a child. You were reading the newspapers at four, and you refused to remain silent on your opinions of my business practices."

"I'm sorry."

"No. It was good, because no one else would really ever say that stuff to me. You knew who I was, but you never cared. It's something that hasn't changed about you, and the thing I admire most."

"I remember vitrolla records in an office," she said taking a swig, "I remember laying on a rug with crayola crayons. The rug was itchy... and cigar smoke, the smell of it... Mae... she was always trying to keep me out of there. I remember that," she smiled, "You told me you were my uncle. But I knew you weren't. you aren't my uncle are you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good, otherwise i would worry for your nieces," she quipped, taking another drink.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Wull, if I was like yer daughter or yer niece, and you kept on lookin' at me the way you been, it'd be a mite bit creepers... If ya get my drift."

She was slurring her words and this was the moment that I realized it. She was leaning closer to me now, a very intent look on her face that made me nervous.

I moved a little away from her and said, "As far as I can see it the real problem between Ahk and you is that the two of you seem to want to prove you love the other person more, which seems like a dumb thing to fight over. You love eachother, pretty unconditionally. So... you can't complain."

She slumped back, "I guess so... Thanks."

"You're welcome. For what, exactly?"

"You know..."

"No, I don't. Is it for solving the problem of your existence? Or for saving your life on a regular basis."

"It's not a regular basis."

"It is to me."

"Well. Thanks fer all dat," she kissed me on the cheek, and paused. Inside I groan. I had been doing so well with that whole not doing anything... thing. I looked at her and she pulls back entirely, "Sorry. I shoul'n'a done that..."

"Why not? It was platonic, right?" I ask, even though I knew the answer already.

She glares at me, "damn you."

I smiled and I kissed her full on the mouth. For a second she pushed me back, but she gives up. She kisses me back, and my guilt accepts what will happen. Then she breaks off entirely, "No... we really shouldn't do this..."

"I know, I know," I move towards her again.

FRANKIE'S POV

It was exhilarating because I knew I shouldn't be doing what i was doing. I was not supposed to be pressed under another man, and in all honesty, if there woulda been any incident with another man, I woulda thought it to be Thor of all people. I mean, have you seen that guy? He's hot. Not that Al was an ugly john or anything...

But I really shouldn't have enjoyed it. And I knew better.

That's why, when he copped a feel (not in a rough way or anything, infact it seemed rather like an after thought. His hand had just landed over my boob...) I pushed him back some, "I can't do this."

"Why?"

"Yes, why?" asked a new voice that made my stomach drop entirely out of the hemisphere. Ahk was standing there in the doorway, and had been for god knows how long.

I scrambled to my feet, "Sweetie!"

"Oh, don't stop on my account. I'm just the guy that was in a committed relationship with you," he said.

"Was?"

"You heard me."

"But... it's not what it looks like!"

"So you weren't just engaging in consentual fornication on a museum sofa with Al Capone?" he said walking slowly towards me.

I hesitated.

"Because that's what it looked like to me," Ahk said, dangerously into the space between us. I couldn't say anything. He laughed, a painful laugh, and turned and walked away from me.

"Ahk!" I ran after him, "Wait!"

But I knew he wouldn't. I would have to catch up with him myself.


	33. Mistakes Not Unmade

**AN The last chapter of part four. Part five should be up soon, but I'm still working out the kinks in the storyline. I had to do a rewrite. **

**Please review.**

AHKMENRAH'S POV  
She snatched my arm. The audatious hussy. I pulled loose of her grip and walked on.

"It may 'a been what it looked like, but ya gotta understand!"

"I must do no such thing, Frankie," I snapped She reached for me again, "Don't! Just don't."

"It was a mistake."

"That is one thing we seem capable of agreeing upon. This was a mistake, and the mistake was mine. I should have listened to you, and to Rikki."

"What did she say?" Frankie asked, her eyes flashing with a suspicion that was frankly uncalled for.

"Only what you yourself have said. You… you're a bad person. You're a troubled girl, though you never bothered to explain the full depths of your troubles, did you?"

"At least I'd the foresight to tell ya I were a bad girl. What'd ya think? I were exaggeratin'?"

"I thought you would know not to…. Not to do this. I thought maybe you loved me."

"I do love you."

"No, you obviously don't know how to love someone if you can go forth in good conscience and do THAT!" I pointed in the general direction from which we have just come. I snatched her by her shoulders and fought the urge to shake her, and lost, "I gave you all of myself! Wasn't it enough?"

"T'was more th'n that… I swear I never meant to hurt you."

"Don't lie to me."  
Tears pours down her face, "I didn'! I jus'… I couldn' help myself! When you let out that part o' my soul-"

"DON'T YOU DARE BLAME THIS ON ME!"

"I'm not placin' blame on no one!"

"Don't speak to me again!" I turned from her.  
"Please forgive me!"

"Why should I? Gods, what a fool I was, believing you. How many times have I been victim of infidelity at your hands?"

"Only this once… wull, an' the other…"

"'Other?'" I scoffed, "Of course. Of course there have been others. Why should I be surprised?" A fresh agony set itself in my chest.

"But it weren't like that! It was fer work! I love you! I wanna be with you for the rest of our lives! I can't live without your love!"  
I grabbed her arm, hard, so that she gave a small gasp, "Be HIS whore. You don't seem to hesitate to do so. I don't want anything he's touched…. I could have understood if he was a real person who could have given you a full life. If he could give you something I couldn't. But that wasn't your motivation, was it?" tears brimmed my eyes, and I tried to blink them away, leading only to them pouring over. I flung her back from me.

One last time she tried to catch a hold of my arm, "I'm beggin' you!"

I shoved her, "Don't make me hurt you."

"Ahk-"

"No. Never speak to me again. Never come near me again, or I swear by every god, I will force regret into your soul."

"It's already there," she said, her voice cracking.

"It wasn't her fault," That Capone said, suddenly appearing, "It's mine."

I clenched my jaw and I swung my fist out and hit him square in the jaw, then I looked at Frankie, "Do not test me, Marlow."

I turned and I walked away with determination. That's when I understood Frankie the most, in retrospect. She knew the pointlessness of investing emotion in anything. You set yourself up for the pain of their rejection, or betrayal.

AL'S POV

I leaned against the wall across from Frankie. We understood that it wasn't something that we could take back. I tried to make Frankie understand that I was sorry for what part I had played in this, but I knew the truth was I didn't force her to do anything.

She doesn't maintain eye contact with me, and I understand.

"Karmina," I start.

"Don't."

"Don't get snippy with me, Babydoll. You wanted it as much as me, if not more."

She let out a breath that sounded like sobbing, "You shoulda stopped me."

"That's not my job, kid."

"Kid?" she asked sarcastically, "We just ruined the only thin' I'd goin' fer me an'… What'm I to you?"

"I could ask you the same, couldn't I?" I smirked, "What was Artemis to you? Seems to me that you go through your life with as little thought for others as you can afford. You can go right ahead and put the blame on you, and most will believe you, but you gotta know, nothing was forced on you. Any decisions you made came from you.

She looked away, and walked down the hall.

"Where are you going?"

"Who really cares?" she called back.

THOR'S POV

We found Frankie in a B-52 bomber with a bottle of Crown Royal. I didn't speak, even though we all knew what had happened. Rikki spoke her out of the plane to ground level.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Rikki demanded.

"Does it matter?" Frankie asked.

"Were you trying to steal that plane?"

"'S'actly what I'm doin'," Frankie slurred sarcastically between gulps of whiskey.

The sarcasm was lost on Rikki, "Do you really think he wants to see you again?"

"No," Frankie took a sobbing breath in, "Ya got 'sactly whut you wanted di'ncha?"

Rikki looked somewhat insulted, and said, "There's some men here who wish to speak with you."

She glanced at the men who stood near me, "IBSID?"

"Yes, so if you'd be so good as to go with them."

"Go with… them?" Frankie looked confused, "I thought you said they jus' wan'ed to talk t' me?"

"You'll be going with them."

"No."

"It's not a choice, Frankie. You're going with them."

She looked at them again before she turned and ran. She got a few feet before one of the feds stretched out his hand and shouted, "Aresto momentum!"

Then she fell to the ground in a crumpled heap of limbs. They collected her and left, with out another word. It was understood though that she would not ever be returned to Rikki's apprenticeship.


End file.
